Cardiff v Munster:Next Sunday Munster will attempt to break more new ground in the Heineken European Cup. The only team to win eight successive matches in one campaign, if the holders add a third win out of three so far this season in Cardiff on Sunday, they will equal the 11-match winning sequence achieved by Leicester.
As an ERC release yesterday reminded us, the Tigers achieved that during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, when they won back-to-back titles, the run coming to an end in a dead rubber against Llanelli.
"It's for other people to notice things like that," says Munster coach Declan Kidney, playing down a relatively meaningless landmark. "That's for statisticians. The four points are all that matter to us on Sunday.
"I bet you it doesn't mention that they've beaten us three times out of three," adds the Munster coach, in reference to the head-to-head record between Sunday's protagonists. Munster have faced 28 teams over the last 11 Cup campaigns, and easily their worst record is against the Blues, for the only other team they have failed to beat is Northampton, to whom they lost in the 2000 final.
"My money is on Leicester being beaten in Llanelli as well," observes Kidney.
Bearing in mind this season's improved showing by Magners Celtic League teams, his observation is particularly telling given Leinster and Ulster have also lost away to fellow Celts in Edinburgh and Llanelli this season.
Munster's three main injury concerns at the outset of the week, David Wallace, Barry Murphy and John Kelly, all trained well yesterday, according to Kidney, and therefore the Munster coach should be able to choose from the 25-man squad he announced yesterday.
Munster will name their side and replacements on Sunday, but because of injuries to Anthony Foley, Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery and Denis Fogarty, the pack ostensibly picks itself. The one rider to that is possibly at loosehead, where Darragh Hurley's progress this season has him vying for the number one jersey along with Federico Pucciariello, who, it has to be said, hasn't scaled the heights of last season.
Perming three from five in his outside backs, with the ever reliable and in-form duo of John Kelly and Shaun Payne sure to start, will be a collective headache for the brains trust as well, especially as the two to miss out from Anthony Horgan, Ian Dowling and Christian Cullen are unlikely to make the cut given Lifiemi Mafi looks a good bet to be an impact replacement along with Tomás O'Leary and Jeremy Manning on the bench.
The hard-earned 13-0 win over Connacht provided a useful means of restarting their season.
"It gave us a fair bit of defensive work. It showed some of the failings in our attack so that put pressure on our defence. It highlighted some things we needed to work on," says Kidney.
After the gutsy opening weekend win away to Leicester and the entertaining defeat of Bourgoin, when the Munster back line played with rare fluidity and potency, the autumn break has, as ever, obliged Kidney and Munster to regain the momentum with which they finished off their initial two rounds of the Cup.
"That's the nature of Northern Hemisphere rugby," says Kidney matter-of-factly rather than wearily. "Any coach in the Northern Hemisphere would find it easier in the Southern Hemisphere system; you get a group of players, you play a tournament and that's it. It's demanding for the coach, but it's as demanding for the players."
No less than the Ireland players returning from their autumn high and readjusting their sights, he cites the players who have been on the fringes in October, then had a couple of isolated Celtic League games, and now have to watch the Test frontliners return.
At least Munster won those intervening League games, at home to the Ospreys and Connacht, Kidney pointing out that the majority of that Ospreys side had beaten Australia A beforehand, and the victory over Connacht eased the bread-and-butter pressure on Munster.
"In terms of trying to ensure qualification for next season's Heineken Cup a two-point gap (behind Connacht) is infinitely better than 13," he noted.
MUNSTER (squad v Cardiff, Sunday): Forwards:D Hurley, J Hayes, F Pucciariello, F Sheahan, A Kyriacou, C Wyatt, P O'Connell, D O'Callaghan, J O'Sullivan, T McGann, A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy. Backs:P Stringer, T O'Leary, R O'Gara, J Manning, L Mafi, T Halstead, B Murphy, J Kelly, I Dowling, A Horgan, S Payne, C Cullen.
