FARRELL CAN INFILTRATE THE FRENCH RESISTANCE

Munster’s Scannell believes his team-mates knowledge from his time in France will be invaluable as they prepare to storm Castres

and, after his three years in France with Grenoble, Scannell says Farrell will be a vital cog for Munster.

“Chris knows a lot of us from playing under-age and stuff, so he has settled in quite nicely and he is enjoying his rugby as well which is great,” said Scannell, right.

“For a big guy, Chris has great distribution skills. I am really enjoying playing with him again. He has made a good impact so far and he is going to be crucial to us as a squad going forward.

“He is nearly like having another forward on the pitch, but he is well able to rip a pass 20-25 metres as well. He has great off-loading ability too, so having that physicality in the centre frees me up to play the type of game I like to play as well.

“I don’t mind the physical things, but I like the distribution side as a centre as well.”

He added:

“People are expecting that he will run straight over you and not that he will be on the gainline throwing a flat ripped pass to the winger, so it is great to have that for a 13.

“He has played Castres a number of times, unlike a lot of our squad at the moment, so he was saying they are going to be physical up front, they like to maul the ball, they have a big pack.

“We are trying to get our ball to the backs as much as possible and try and run them around.” Scannell, who has played 58 times and scored eight tries for Munster since his debut in 2014-15, says losing to rivals Leinster last weekend was a massive blow – but it was still the perfect preparation for a big European game.

He said: “We are trying to look forward to the week coming, but it is disappointing to lose up there and I thought we played well, but obviously the discipline cost us.

“Even at that, we still only lost by six points. If we can cut down those penalties we probably would have had a good chance of winning the game.

“Usually there is (a difference in intensity for Europe). It doesn’t really need to be said because we know it is that bit of a step up from the PRO14, so having Leinster the weekend before helped – given that was such an intense game.

“We are looking forward to the challenge on Sunday now.”