Although Munster lost (28-34) to the Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Friday night last Munster have begun this season in rude good form and a bumper crowd is expected for the first home game against the Cardiff Blues at Limerick’s Thomond Park on Friday, September 11.
With Munster’s first outing in the Heineken Cup, away to the Northampton Saints on October 10, mere weeks away Tony McGahan will be hoping to make a positive start on Friday night. And, there is every chance of doing so.
For the past five years the Glasgow Warriors have posted the third-worst record in the Magners League and only won seven of their 18 outings last season - Glasgow did earn a losing bonus point on five occasions which does suggest that coach Sean Lineen has assembled a squad which is at the very least a determined one.
The Warriors feature the likes of Chris Cussiter, Dan Parks, Max Evans and Thom Evans in their squad.
Munster recorded two valuable wins over the Warriors last season.
In October 2008 Munster returned to their spiritual home of Thomond Park (19,000 spectators turned out to see Munster begin a new era at the re-developed ground), but had to work very hard to see off Glasgow on a 25-17 score line - tries from Peter Stringer, Barry Murphy and Doug Howlett proved enough to give Munster their fifth win of the 2008-09 Magners League campaign while the result also propelled Tony McGahan’s men to the summit of the league table.
Seven months later, on March 27, Munster collided with Glasgow at the Firhill Arena and won again on a 26-13 score line - on the night Munster handed the Warriors their first defeat at the Firhill Arena since May 2006.
Munster were outstanding on the night with a hat-trick of tries from Niall Ronan helping the eventual Magners League champions to a bonus point win - Keith Earls scored Munster’s fourth try.
Although the Munster match day 22 has not yet been released Tony McGahan is expected to take a strong squad to Scotland.
James Coughlan has recovered from illness while Munster are hopeful that their injured Lions Tomas O’Leary and Jerry Flannery will return to action in the next few weeks.
Munster are happy with the progress being made by scrum-half O’Leary and hooker Flannery as they continue their recovery from the respective ankle and shoulder injuries which ruled them out of the Lions tour to South Africa.
Unfortunately Aucklander Nick Williams has been ruled out of action for up to six weeks after undergoing knee surgery following the injury he sustained in a pre-season friendly clash with the Sale Sharks. Although Barry Murphy and Ian Dowling were ruled out of last Friday night’s game against the Leicester Tigers at Welford road, Tony McGahan has indicated that both players were rested only as a precautionary measure.
Brian McDonnell
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