Donal Lenihan: Consequences of a feeble forty against Glasgow are piled high for Munster

I can’t recall Munster ever trailing by 28 points at half-time in any game in Thomond Park.

SLOW START: Munster’s Gavin Coombes wins a lineout against Glasgow Warriors. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Never mind the wicked, there's no rest for the professional rugby player. With the Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 games coming thick and fast this weekend, many of the Irish heroes from an outstanding and highly rewarding Six Nations campaign will be pressed straight back into action.

For once it’s the Springbok contingent of the Stormers, Sharks and Blue Bulls that are a little bit more rested than their Six Nations counterparts. That hasn’t always been the case given their oscillations between a southern hemisphere international season and a European-based club season. With the Grand Slam success already in the rear-view mirror as the business end of the season creeps up on the provinces, season-defining games have appeared on the horizon.