Horan’s looking for another try

There are only Celtic League points at stake when leaders Munster travel to the RDS to play Leinster tomorrow at 1pm.

But it will be played with an intensity and ferocity normally associated with cup finals or a title decider.

This is the king of all local derbies with Munster holding the upper hand historically, winning five of the last eight games they have played.

For Leinster it will be an opportunity to make amends for their record 33-9 trouncing by Munster at Musgrave Park at the start of October.

Leinster’s forwards were blown away by a magnificent Munster second-half display, marshalled superbly by rookie scrum-half Tomas O’Leary, who replaced the injured Peter Stringer.

Fittingly three of the five tries came from forwards, Denis Leamy, Mick O’Driscoll and Marcus Horan, who has made a habit of scoring against Leinster.

He has already crossed five times this season, against Connacht and Leinster in the Celtic League, the Dragons in the Heineken Cup and Ireland’s consolation try against the All Blacks.

But it’s his fondness for crossing Leinster’s whitewash which puts him under the spotlight.

As 2005 fades Horan can reflect on a remarkable run of scoring in all three games against the D4 outfit this year.

Horan grabbed his first try in the 19-13 victory on the first day of the year.

The prop forward was at it again in the 23-17 Celtic Cup semi-final win at Lansdowne Road in May and he completed his hat-trick in October.

Irrespective of the outcome Munster will remain top of the table entering 2006.

They hold a five-point lead over Edinburgh, who don’t play this weekend because of the odd number of teams in the league.

In their wisdom the organisers award four points to the team with a free weekend.

Quirky? Yes. Puzzling? Certainly, especially for those responsible for organising league tables.

And just to make it even more intriguing Munster’s next game is away to the Scots tomorrow night week.

Munster are seven clear of Leinster, who are a point behind Ulster.

Leinster can’t really fall 11 or more points behind Munster even though the league will only be at the half-way mark after the 11th series of games.

They will look to the potency in their back division to stem the run of defeats and it hardly matters if fit-again Brian O’Driscoll starts the game or is introduced from the bench.

Leinster have other match winners in their back line, notably Gordan D’Arcy and Robert Kearney.

There’s also a suggestion Denis Hickie, who hasn’t played for nearly three months due to injury, could return, but it is suspected that’s for Munster consumption only.

But it’s the Leinster pack which holds the key to the outcome.

If they can engineer enough quality ball then D’Arcy and co will have opportunities to show their skills.

But that’s a big ‘if’, because Munster have regularly out-played, out-fought and proved too smart for their opponents up front to believe they will be turned over this time.

Conditions, too, will be a factor. Rain is forecast which will place a premium on staying up right and holding a slippery leather.