The end of an era is nigh? Well, to a degree at any rate, this Heineken Cup campaign is the last hurrah for this Munster crew given Declan Kidney and Niall O'Donovan will be moving on to greener pastures. "Let's do it for Declan and Niallo," is liable to become a powerful, if mostly unmentioned, spur over the next few weeks.
Never an outfit short of a motive or two, this afternoon part of the spur will be "let's do it for Claw". The old warhorse Peter Clohessy today emulates his captain and great mate Mick Galwey in reaching a century of appearances for Munster and hence is granted the privilege of leading the team out to face Harlequins.
Most pertinently, though, the squad will be motivated by a desire to quickly start atoning for the Celtic final defeat, which left Galwey and the players ruing their "lack of a killer instinct". At least they have the chance to do so. The Heineken Cup final and semi-final defeats of the last two years effectively ended their seasons.
"I'd like to think that at the end of the season losing to Leinster might have been the best thing to happen to us," says Galwey.
"It isn't at the moment but it might prove to be. We probably wouldn't have trained as hard as we did over Christmas so perhaps it was an expensive wake-up call."
It could be that Munster will have to win both their remaining pool games just to qualify for the last eight, never mind obtain a home quarter-final. "Our season is in the next two weeks," says Galwey starkly. "Our season could be all over bar the interpros and that would be a disaster. Then we'd have a real sense of failure."
In any event, the roar when Clohessy leads out the warriors in red is sure to be a bit special even by the standards of the Thomond Park bearpit. And so a ground-shuddering atmosphere is guaranteed again from the very start.
That's the difference and the value with Munster's support. They are pro-active as well as knowledgeable, not merely reacting to scores, although a few early, high-tempo forward charges and the whole concoction may become too heady for Harlequins. It's what Munster need; an immediate pick-me-up.
Munster ought therefore to have every incentive for one of those fierce, up-and-at-'em starts which occasionally puts these renowned front-runners on the front foot. In that scenario, even allowing for their pride, a slightly understrength Harlequins - alas missing Keith Wood and Jason Leonard - might lose a little stomach for the battle given their interest in the competition is entirely academic after three straight pool defeats.
Then again, it usually doesn't work out as straightforward as that. For despite Harelquins' missing Lions, they still have the big guns in their back line - Paul Burke, Will Greenwood (supposedly a tad off-colour) and the ever-dangerous Dan Luger.
For Burke especially, a one-time team-mate of Galwey, Clohessy and co during his two years with Cork Constitution and Munster, there's every incentive to give the Irish management a timely nudge.
"I guess I'm behind both David (Humpheys) and Ronan (O'Gara) at the moment, but I don't want to be considered as the third man," says Burke.
"I still have ambitions to play for Ireland and as long as I'm playing well for the Harlequins I reckon I'll be in with a shout. The selectors have told me they are still considering me, so now it is down to me. It is going to be great going back to Munster."
Galwey maintains that Harlequins "have picked a big pack", led by his old opponent and fellow number four and captain Garrick Morgan, renewing a rivalry which dates back to their joint dismissal in the infamous Munster-Australia Musgrave Park battle of 1992.
Harlequins have eight of the team which met in the earlier meeting, and well though Munster played to eke out a hard-earned and slightly flattering 24-8 win at the Stoop, the English team caused Munster particular problems early on, especially by attacking out wide. Given the chance they'll surely swing from the hip today.
John Hayes, David Wallace, Paul O'Connell and Rob Henderson were all ruled out of contention for places on the Munster bench last night after failing to overcome injuries.
Without a "flyer" of a start, more often than not Munster are obliged to grind out a win, but then again few teams do that better. The era isn't over just yet.
European Cup, the story so far: Page 6.
Munster v Harlequins
Thomond Park (Live Net 2, 3.0)
MUNSTER: D Crotty; J Kelly, M Mullins, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, M Prendergast; M Horan, F Sheahan, P Clohessy, M Galwey, M O'Driscoll, J Williams, A Foley, A Quinlan. Replacements: M Cahill, J Blaney, D O'Callaghan, C McMahon, D Hegarty, J Staunton, J O'Neill.
HARLEQUINS: D Slemen; M Moore, W Greenwood, N Burrows, D Luger; P Burke, N Duncombe; B Starr, J Roddam, J Dawson, G Morgan (capt), B Davison, S White-Cooper, T Diprose, T Tamarua. Replacements: B Douglas, A Olver, A Codling, R Winters, M Powell, M Mapletoft, R Jewell.
Referee: S Mancini (Italy).
Previous meetings: (1997-98) Harlequins 48 Munster 40, Munster 23 Harlequins 16. (2001-2) Harlequins 8 Munster 24.
European Cup Formguide: Munster 28-23 (h) v Castres; 24-8 v Harlequins (a); 16-12 v Bridgend (a), 40-6 v Bridgend (h). Harlequins 30-24 v Bridgend (a); 8-24 v Munster (h); 17-39 v Castres (h); 18-24 v Castres (a).
Leading try scorers: Munster - Jason Holland 3. Harlequins - Dan Luger 3.
Leading points scorers: Munster - Ronan O'Gara 60. Harlequins - Paul Burke 23.
Odds (Paddy Powers): Handicap odds only (= Harlequins +17pts) 10/11 Munster, 14/1 Draw, 10/11 Harlequins.
Forecast: Munster to win.
