McGahan can feel the expectations rising

RUGBY NEWS:MUNSTER ARE back in their favourite place, Heineken Cup mode. The well-timed re-opening of a replenished Thomond Park and the onset of Friday's opening defence of their crown against Montauban has heightened expectations.

Five wins from five in the Magners League is all well and good, and they are in relatively rude health at this point in the season, but now the Munster nation and the squad themselves want to unveil their A game.

The way coach Tony McGahan describes it, it's simply in the air again. "We just know by people in the street and people in the shop, and for the squad it's just a different feel to the week leading into the Heineken Cup, and I'm sure it's going to crank up.

"This week is a little bit different in that it's a short week so it'll come upon us very quickly."

The University of Limerick surrounds were familiar, too, as McGahan unveiled his 22-man squad for the opener, although being first up in defence of their crown with the rest of Europe watching does perhaps heighten the pressure on them to lay down a marker, and being roaring favourites has not always been their favourite place.

"There's always pressure and there will be pressure in this particular game, because from the outside looking in you would think we would be more than capable of getting a result. I'm sure everybody will be telling us that and will be knocking Montauban, but we've certainly done our homework on them and we know they have some exciting players.

"(Vilmoni) Delasau can score 14-20 points by himself from anywhere, so they could be anywhere on the scoreboard. But we need to make sure that we start well and gain our ascendancy very early in the piece."

Peter Stringer, demoted to the bench for the knock-out stages of Munster's victorious campaign last season, is set to regain his number nine jersey this Friday as Tomás O'Leary's foot injury again rules him out of consideration. Stringer has looked back to his sharpest this season, and having quickened Munster's tempo off the base has also, according to McGahan, addressed aspects of his game.

"Peter has brought improvements to his game that the coaching staff were looking for, and he's certainly worked very hard at that and went a long way towards that in the first half last week," said McGahan pointedly. He referred to "a bit of defensive organisation and a little bit more on his attack as well. Attack, defence and kicking would be the three main sort of areas, without giving too much away."

Lifeimi Mafi, Ian Dowling and Jerry Flannery return to the squad, and in a further statement of intent a couple of long-serving and regular match-day squad players, Frankie Sheahan and Mick O'Driscoll, are left out, with Denis Fogarty (who made a big impact in the second half last Saturday) and Donncha Ryan preferred instead.

"This is just a selection for this weekend. We think that Denis can have a real impact from the bench and we think that Donncha Ryan gives us some cover at lock and at six, which allows us to have a specialist (number eight) like John O'Sullivan on the bench."

Describing Sheahan and O'Driscoll as seasoned performers and great professionals, McGahan said that "while they wouldn't be happy with the decisions made they certainly respect it, and being a member of the squad they understand that for this week this is the best 22."

That it was a flawed performance in the 25-17 win over Glasgow which initially graced Thomond's re-opening will have given the brains trust and players alike plenty to reproach themselves for in training this week.

"It certainly does. No one is getting carried away. We always knew from the start that it would be a process that we would continue to go through, and the Leinster result probably glossed over a few areas that we didn't do well," said McGahan, which weren't addressed against Glasgow. "I thought we showed great intent and we wanted to do well, but unfortunately lack of detail, with regard to our handling in the game, let us down."

Nor did he accept last Saturday's torrential rain as an excuse. "We would think our skills would hold up underneath those conditions. We were just poorly focused in that area."

Despite reaching the knock-out stages for the last nine years, Munster have rarely been in such good nick, which almost seems unnerving, but not to McGahan.

"We go into it with no excuses, to be honest with you. We're dealing with nearly a full panel. There's a few guys unavailable for selection, but everyone that's been selected is in form and that's why they're in the 22. We've had a decent run of pre-season form, we've had a decent enough run at it in the Magners League, so we'd rather be in the position we're in than anywhere else."

MUNSTER SQUAD

(v Montauban, Thomond Park, Friday, 8.0)

Backs:K Earls, D Howlett, L Mafi, B Murphy, I Dowling, R Tipoki, R O'Gara, P Warwick, P Stringer M Prendergast. Forwards:M Horan, F Pucciariello, J Flannery, D Fogarty J Hayes, P O'Connell (capt), D Ryan, D O'Callaghan, A Quinlan, J O'Sullivan, J Melck, D Wallace.