Nullifying the threat of Cipriani key to Munster delivering a big performance

THERE is an air of familiarity around this one as Munster return to Thomond Park looking to build on a hardearned draw away from home in their Champions Cup opener.

Just last season, they encountered a similar scenario when Racing came to Limerick, only to be sent packing again.

The two points in Castres the previous week were crucial, as were last week’s in Exeter, and you get the sense that Munster are now primed to deliver another big European performance.

It’s not quite the ideal Saturday evening slot, but Thomond Park will be close to a sell-out this afternoon and the Munster faithful are sure to give Gloucester a traditional welcome.

The English side got their campaign off to a winning start at home to Castres, yet there wasn’t a huge amount from their performance that will have overly concerned Johann van Graan.

Given the attritional nature of the draw in Exeter, it is no surprise to see the Munster boss ring the changes, including an entirely new front-row.

One of those changes was enforced however, as hooker Niall Scannell picked up an unspecified injury in training this week.

It is a cruel blow for Scannell who is in fine form and he will hope that the issue is not serious enough to rule him out of any of Ireland’s upcoming games.

A lot of the talk this week had centred around the return of Gerbrandt Grobler and how the South African lock might disrupt his former team’s lineout.

Surprise

It is, however, a major surprise to see him named on the bench, particularly given his form since he left Munster for Gloucester.

Danny Cipriani starts and he will be central to Gloucester’s hopes of pulling off what would be a major upset.

While question marks hang over his defence, there is no doubting the 30-year-old’s quality with ball in hand and if he is allowed the platform to pull the strings, Cipriani will be the one asking the questions of Munster’s defence.

From that end, Tommy O’Donnell has a big role to play in nullifying the outhalf ’s threat and having been dropped for the game in Exeter, you can expect a big response from the Tipperary native.

For all of the positives from last week, there are areas that Munster will want to improve on, particularly when they get into the opposition’s territory.

“It would be brilliant to use all of our opportunities in one game,” Van Graan said.

“We had an opportunity after about 10 minutes under their goal posts and then we knock on one ball.

“With three minutes to go, right in that left-hand corner, we conceded a penalty.

“Converting in that last part of... some teams call it the red zone, we call it something else, but for now, let’s call it the red zone... converting those opportunities in the red zone.

“You just have to look at all the European games, it’s small margins. Small margins win and lose you games.

“This is a very hungry and confident group of players. That’s what I said at the beginning of year, we are looking for an improved performance week by week and I felt that we got that over the last three weeks.

“We definitely took a lot of confidence out of it but the most important thing is the confidence that we got from our performance.”

That confidence is likely to be the deciding factor today. Munster feel as if they are due a big performance and with Gloucester coming to town, there is no better time to deliver one. Verdict: Munster