If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Adhering to the same formula which they applied prior to their quarter-final win in Leicester, Munster announced the same travelling squad of 24, most likely as a precursor to an unchanged team and 22 when they and Toulouse announce their line-ups at tomorrow's eve-of-match press conference.
The only blights in advance of Saturday's Heineken European Cup semi-final in Toulouse were the injury which continues to sideline Mossie Lawlor and David Wallace's lack of rugby.
Exuding contentment and reporting a clean bill of health for the 24 players named, Alan Gaffney even broke with customary coaching practice on the eve of big matches, by expressing himself "very happy". As Basil Fawlty once said of a satisfied customer: "We should have him stuffed."
Lest we got the impression Munster might be overconfident, Gaffney continually sought to portray Toulouse as the star-studded standard-bearer of French rugby, before invariably adding the rider that Munster had some things going for them as well.
"Obviously we expect a very difficult game and we'll treat Toulouse with the respect they deserve. They're one of the premier sides in Europe but then again, so are we. We're playing them in their own dung hill (Aussie for "back yard") and we expect a very difficult game. We're going out there with a good degree of confidence, and if we play to our potential we'll give it a very good shot."
That said, Gaffney billed Munster's task on Saturday as tougher than Leicester away, and along with the palpably sunny confidence within Munster's ranks there's a tacit acceptance that Toulouse possess a greater litany of gamebreakers than even the holders did.
"It's a challenge after a challenge. I probably think it is (tougher) personally but then again it's one that we're well up for. They're a team bristling with a lot of good players but then again we've got a lot of good players also. If we go out and play the way we've worked out between ourselves - it's the players' game plan, along with Brian (Hickey) and myself - then we believe we have the game plan to do well in Toulouse."
Although Gaffney hasn't seen Toulouse live ("a nice place to travel to, but difficult to get to"), he and his back-up staff have poured through eight videos of the French aristocrats this season and he also has the memory of Leinster's 43-7 stuffing there last season.
"They're probably, up front, maybe not as strong as Leicester but they've got the Gallic flair, they've got a lot of gas out wide, they've a lot of creative players and play a brand of football which can border on the miraculous, and they are so unpredictable in what they do. I witnessed it first hand 12 months ago. If they're allowed to get on the front foot they're very difficult to contain, so that is one of the challenges facing us at the weekend."
With the game a 37,000 sell-out - Toulouse have informed ERC they could have filled an 80,000 seat stadium - and Leinster having sold 42,000 tickets for their semi-final against Perpignan on Sunday in 10 days, the projected aggregate attendance for the weekend of 80,000-plus is over 30,000 more than the aggregate record for the semi-finals established last year.
All told, there will be be a record aggregate attendance of 250,000-plus at the seven play-off games, including the final, and the last few thousand tickets for the Lansdowne Road semi-final on Sunday are available at the IRFU's offices in Lansdowne Road and Ticketmaster.
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