CJ Stander feeling the Rassie Erasmus effect

CJ Stander has already participated in one home defeat at the start of this new Guinness PRO12 campaign and the Munster back row does not intend to add another when the province makes its seasonal debut at Thomond Park against Edinburgh on Saturday.

Stander made his own first appearance of the season in round two a fortnight ago, when Munster went down narrowly to Cardiff Blues in Cork. Losing at Thomond Park this weekend is unthinkable, particularly given the stated pre-season objective of returning their Limerick stadium to stronghold status after a season of damaging reverses in key games on home soil, against Leicester in Europe, and to inter-provincial rivals Connacht and Leinster in the PRO12.

“We kept on saying last year that you want to make your home a fortress and win all your games and we couldn’t,” Stander said. “So that (Cardiff) game is always going to hang over us to use as an example, that feeling we had after the match, in the match, just the way we didn’t use our opportunities.