Munster aware of Tigers' potential

European Cup: Of all the teams in Europe, even including Toulouse, no team would relish more than Leicester the opportunity of ending the proudest unbeaten home record in the Heineken European Cup.

Munster are seeking to emulate the Tigers in retaining the cup and, while Leicester may not be the force that repeated their 2001 triumph at Munster's expense a year later, they have the pride and pedigree to enter the Thomond den without fear.

One secret of Munster's 26-match winning run in Limerick since the competition started is their genuine willingness to respect the opposition, and nobody appreciates better the threat to their citadel than the champions themselves.

Even if there was nothing tangible at stake, be it topping the pool, earning home advantage in the last eight or, in Leicester's case, fighting for their Euro lives, the prospect of the English standard-bearers in this competition seeking to end the cup's proudest unbeaten record against their Irish counterparts and holders would have made it one of the ties of the pool stages.

Throw in the knowledge that this will be a farewell to a ground that, as Paul O'Connell acknowledged yesterday, is not especially aesthetic but assumes a different persona come 5.30 on Saturday afternoon as the mist invariably rolls in. It's typically Munster, he reckons and, though he wouldn't go so far as to say it, there could hardly have been a more fitting finale before the proposed redevelopment.

"It's very important," admitted the Munster captain yesterday inside the bowels of the unpretentious main stand when asked about maintaining the unbeaten Cup run at the ground.

"Records are made to be broken and we always say we don't want to be the guys to lose it. We've said it before, it's a perverse kind of motivation for us, but it works for us. It's a record that has driven us on to good things at home."

O'Connell likened Leicester in attitude to Wasps when they beat Munster in that epic semi-final three seasons ago at Lansdowne Road, and he reiterated the point that unlike previous English victims of the last-day Thomond pressure cooker, namely Gloucester and Sale, Leicester have to win: "And when you have experience in your side, that can be good for teams."

Asked about the Thomond factor, Declan Kidney duly set the scene as well as any of us could, albeit after praising the latest expedition abroad, in the region of 7,000, to the Stade de Genève last Sunday for the helter-skelter 30-27 win over Bourgoin.

"Look at the support we've had for the last three matches. It's been phenomenal. We got unbelievably good support for our away matches and I think that's why we got our three away wins. This Saturday it's no different in what we can expect . . . special.

"We need to give it our best shot. It's going to be a very special day as professional sportspeople. We're going to have to try and not get wrapped up in the emotion of what is going to be a very special day.

"But I think it's going to be a special day for everyone on the touchlines, and if it's voices or the way we play, or if we've to be carried off the pitch, as long as we're all able to look at ourselves at the end of the day, then we'll have fulfilled what Thomond Park is all about, and that's giving it everything. If we do that, we're in with a shout of getting a result.

"But it's going to be a very tough game because, of all the sides we've played from England, ever since the draw came out it looks to me as if they've been relishing this opportunity."

He forewarned that Munster couldn't afford to get caught up too much in the sheer emotion of the occasion. Nor, with Trevor Halstead again ruled out through injury along with the hugely influential but suspended Alan Quinlan and Anthony Horgan, are Munster able to play their full hand. A further concern is the six-day turnaround after the trip home from Switzerland.

"What time is it now?" asked Kidney aloud, looking at his watch. "We're just over 48 hours after the (Bourgoin) match now so a few of the boys didn't play because of the bangs and knocks they picked."

That said, Kidney was optimistic yesterday's idle trio, Marcus Horan, Frankie Sheahan and David Wallace, would all be declared fit in a day or two.

Accordingly, Kidney added six players to the 22 who were on duty last Sunday, but in what is likely to be an unchanged 22, his most pressing decision is whether to again accommodate the additional lineout presence of Mick O'Driscoll in his back row or recall the tournament's most experienced warhorse, Anthony Foley.

Going into this game without a leader such as Foley seems almost unthinkable, but the absence of Quinlan - who made such a significant impact off the bench when turning the tables on a previously troubled lineout - undermines their options.

There is a thought that the Munster brains trust might tamper with the Lifeimi Mafi and Barry Murphy midfield, by moving John Kelly infield, but that seems unlikely. The may also retain hooker Frankie Sheahan, again giving Jerry Flannery the impact-replacement role.

After their passable imitation of the Harlem Globetrotters or Leinster (dilute to taste), Kidney echoed the post-match sentiments of O'Connell in hinting, unsurprisingly, that the same level or style of performance would not be repeated, or sufficient, against Leicester.

MUNSTER SQUAD (v Leicester): Forwards - J Hayes, M Horan, F Pucciariello, T Buckley, D Hurley, A Kyriacou, F Sheahan, J Flannery, P O'Connell, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, C Wyatt, J Coughlan, D Leamy, A Foley, D Wallace. Backs - P Stringer, T O'Leary, R O'Gara, B O'Meara, J Manning, E Hickey, I Dowling, J Kelly, L Mafi, B Murphy, S Payne, C Cullen, M Lawlor.