Leicester Tigers will be different animal when Munster travel to Welford Road

For all the good news coming out of Munster in the past couple of days, the appearance of centres Matt Toomua and Manu Tuilagi on the Leicester Tigers teamsheet yesterday lunchtime will have offered a sobering counterpoint ahead of tomorrow’s Champions Cup re-match at Welford Road.

The signature, announced yesterday evening, of captain Peter O’Mahony on a three-year IRFU contract following Thursday’s confirmation of the arrival of new defence coach JP Ferreira from Johannesburg next week suggests Munster’s ducks are waddling neatly into an orderly formation as the province flies to the English East Midlands for their now-annual pre-Christmas scrap for European pool points.

Add in the return of fit-again Ireland international wing Keith Earls and hooker Niall Scannell to the bench after weeks on the sidelines and joining a buoyant squad that has strung together four consecutive bonus-point wins, including last Saturday’s 33-10 Thomond Park thumping of tomorrow evening’s opponents and there are all the ingredients to fuel enough confidence to power the team plane across the Irish Sea Yet, the return to the Tigers backline of Australian second five-eighth Toomua and England’s Tuilagi, the midfield battering ram with balletic grace, is a serious gamechanger sure to boost Matt O’Connor’s attacking options after an impotent outing in Limerick.