Munster need to get instant impact from Larkham and Rowntree

This may be a pool of death Munster are facing into as the 25th Heineken Champions Cup campaign gets underway this weekend but the fixture schedule has at least handed Johann van Graan’s side the most palatable of introductions, albeit away, with a trip to off-form Ospreys.

The plan, of course, for a team that has reached the semi-finals in each of the last three seasons, is that today’s Pool 4 opener against PRO14 bedfellows is not merely a stay of execution before Racing 92 and Saracens, the province’s twin nemeses of those recent campaigns come calling in rounds two, three, and four.