Munster must find another knockout punch against Exeter

It is not as if Munster have not been here before, standing on the brink of a European quarter-final but still needing the final game to close out their progress to the knockout stages.

That they have reached the quarters on a record 17 occasions, winning European club rugby’s greatest prize twice, tells its own story in terms of pedigree. But Exeter Chiefs? For all their qualities and status as recent champions and current leaders of the English Premiership, they arrive at Thomond Park this evening entering the unknown, needing to secure victory on their first visit to Munster’s hallowed ground and claim a first win on Irish soil at the fourth time of asking.