Munster are preparing for bigger things

Munster 39 Connacht 13: Munster regained a lot of the momentum that had been eroded by two poor and frustrating performances againt Leinster and Ulster when easily disposing of an understrength Connacht side in Saturday night’s Guinness Pro 14 game at Thomond Park.

Even so, Racing 92, their opponents in next Sunday’s all-important European Champions Cup game in Paris, will hardly be quaking in their boots having perused the video and Munster supporters will be reassured to learn that head coach Johann van Graan places little or no significance in the result with the next couple of weeks in mind.

Whereas Connacht travelled to Limerick without half their best side, Munster will almost certainly make no more than three changes for Racing with skipper Peter O’Mahony and Chris Cloete returning at wing-forward and Billy Holland in the second-row. Even then man of the match Conor Oliver performed so effectively that he may well challenge Cloete at 7 and the towering Darren O’Shea continues to display such potential in the engine room that even the ever reliable Holland could come under pressure.