Another litmus test beckons for Munster's new gameplan 

The imponderable that was put to attack coach Mike Prendergast this week was whether he felt Munster’s evolving and expanding gameplan had progressed sufficiently well enough to land the knockout punch on a Leinster team unbeaten this season

ANOTHER GO: Rob Russell of Leinster runs in to score his side's fourth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Munster at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Leinster. They have been the standard bearers to which Munster have aspired for longer than the southern province would care to remember and nothing about the way Leo Cullen’s men have started this season suggests things are about to change.

And yet. With a new coaching staff refusing to dwell on the past, pitiful record of nine straight league defeats to their neighbours, and finally seeing their labours since taking the helm in pre-season begin to bear fruit, Munster will go into tonight’s sell-out Thomond Park renewal with confidence and a firm sense of their direction of travel.