Anthony Foley hoping Munster finally ready to fire

Anthony Foley will send his under-fire Munster players out at Thomond Park this evening confident in their abilities to be all right on the European night after two poor league returns.

The stakes are being raised considerably as old foes Leicester return to the scene of their famous victory in Limerick eight seasons ago, when they stunned the reigning Heineken Cup champions with a first away win for a visiting European side at the old stadium and consigned Munster to an away quarter-final at Scarlets which they failed to handle.

The omens from the past two weeks’ Pro12 outings, a home loss to league leaders Connacht and, albeit understrength, away at Newport, do not bode well for Foley’s squad and neither does last season’s home defeat to Clermont on the same Champions Cup weekend.