A CJ Stander and Jamie Heaslip face-off — time to fasten the seat belts

When Leinster and Munster do battle, the final result is what matters most. Invariably, though, there are also personal duels that command huge public attention and that will certainly be the case at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday when Jamie Heaslip and CJ Stander go face-to-face in a mouth watering number eight duel.

Both men slotted comfortably into the Ireland back-row last season with Heaslip at eight and Stander at six. But there are many who believe with Peter O’Mahony back to near full fitness that he should be restored to the blind side of the scrum and that Stander will usurp Heaslip’s right to the number eight jersey. Obviously, their clash on Saturday will go a long way towards resolving Joe Schmidt’s dilemma.

For now, though, Stander has thoughts only for doing all he can to reverse the results of last season’s PRO12 meetings of the sides.

“We slipped up the last time we went up there,” he says. “We weren’t physical enough, so that is in the back of our head. Winning against Leinster would be a massive boost going to Paris and Racing the following week. The return of Peter O’Mahony is massive for us. The big thing is that he is another leader coming back. He makes the leadership much easier, another voice in there. If you are tired and need motivation, you can turn to him and he can turn to you. We are pushing each other hard in that leadership role, so I am looking forward to him being back and see what he can do after a bit of a break.”

When chatting to Stander, the issue of whether he prefers to play at No. 8 eight or No. 6 always comes to the forefront. It’s not one to give him sleepless nights.

“It has always been a case that Peter is a six and I’m at eight,” he states. “It will be good to settle into the eight position. I enjoy eight, there’s a lot of freedom there. I think Conor Murray and myself have a good understanding, we know what we are going to do from every scrum and every phase and that extends to Tyler (Bleyendaal).

“We’ve been creating a lot of opportunities in the last few weeks. We don’t need to change a lot, just stick with what we are doing. We didn’t create a lot of opportunities last year but when we did, we scored a lot of tries. If opportunities are left on the pitch and you have a lot of them, that’s great but if you are not making the opportunities you need to change things. We are not where we want to be under Rassie but we are getting there.”

Like the whole of Munster, Stander is eagerly looking forward to the trip to Paris and Ronan O’Gara’s Racing.

“It will be great going out playing a great team like them. The biggest thing is getting out of our group in Europe and those boys are standing in our way. I played with ROG in his last season at Munster. He is his own man. He does what he needs to do and does it his way. If you are happy with that, that’s fine and if not, he is still going to do it. I quite enjoyed him.

“For a young guy coming from where I came from, a player like that was unbelievable. I always had and still have massive respect for him. He was a great rugby player and has a great rugby mind.”

Having been red carded in the first Test against his native South Africa, it is only natural that Stander has mixed views on last summer’s Test series which Ireland came within inches of winning “It was great to have the opportunity to go home to South Africa and meet the family,” he reflected. “I was very disappointed getting that red card. I learned a lot, though, how to conduct myself and look after myself. It made me stronger as a human being and as a man. You need to step up when things are not going with you and I have learned to do that even better.”