Munster have real fighting chance

In the red corner the mighty Munster men who provided the cornerstone of Ireland's rejuvenated championship campaign. In the blue corner, the polyglot fancy dans from Paris, a sort of Parisian Globetrotters XV encompassing eight different nationalities in their starting lineout alone. Seconds out. . . .

As match-ups go, they don't come much more intriguing than this one (Thomond Park, 1.15, Network 2, BBC 1) although to listen to the Stade Francais coach, long-time Italian messiah Georges Costes, even a boxing analogy is quite tame.

"It will be like hell for us. We know that facing Munster in Limerick will be very difficult, so we have to prepare ourselves for a war." Not that the nouveau riche of French rugby are gearing up for a nasty, macho contest, as such terminology is quite commonplace in French rugbyspeak.

Even Thomond Park hasn't hosted a game of this importance for many, many years. Rugby crazy at the best of times, Limerick has gone potty altogether over this one. But if ever an Irish provincial side were mentally up to such a high-octane, pressurised clash then this is the one.

It was striking to note how calm and relaxed Munster were this week, mixing serious lineout practice at Musgrave Park on Tuesday with constant slagging at Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer and John Hayes as they were interviewed on television.

And when you think of it, why not? Come kick-off Stade may have 11 internationals but Munster have a dozen. What's the big deal, after all, for a bunch of players who've been through a host of European Cup, Test or A internationals already this season?

The likes of Keith Wood, Peter Clohessy, Mick Galwey, John Langford and Anthony Foley are as tough as they come.

What's more these players are winners, and the younger element, such as Peter Stringer and Ronan O'Gara, have been brought along for the ride.

Technically, the Parisian aristocrats may have more going for them, especially out wide where the brilliantly elusive Christophe Dominici has been declared fit and South African Conrad Stoltz, notionally a centre, has been preferred at full back; strongly hinting that that's where Costes has targeted the home side. But mentally, for once, and also in terms of fitness, you'd almost think the Irish side has the edge.

The first 15 minutes will tell how Munster will gel. The friendly last weekend in Leicester saw them concede 14 unanswered points in the opening 15 minutes and the hope must be that that game got the rustiness out of their system. Anything similar will make it a long, arduous 80plus minutes at the office.

Alternatively, an accurate opening 15 minutes, free of knock-ons, missed penalties to touch or loose set-pieces, should provide a solid enough platform for one of Munster's best from-the-front displays.

Munster's set-pieces should be okay, and the hope will be that they hold onto the ball long enough to accentuate the mental pressure on Stade.

Although the loss of Christophe Juillet, especially, and Christophe Moni is bound to hurt the visitors, given that so much of their lineout and running game revolves around their back row, still Stade Francais will probably have more scope to their game with the ball.

So therefore the key to Munster's chances of victory as much as anything else will be their defence. Any missed first-up tackles, especially when the target runners come charging off Diego Dominguez's short, popped passes, will see the Stade support runners hone in on the ball-carrier in waves.

Alternatively, if those first-up tackles keep being made, and Stade's running game starts to go backwards a few times, then the Munster team and crowd alike will start getting their gander up.

If this scenario is coupled with Munster ahead on the scoreboard, then on Thomond's claustrophobic confines, the 13,342 crowd - provided it's not too weighed down with polite corporate types in suits - will seem like twice that.

There's no doubt were this in Paris, Stade would be strong favourites, as opposed to fourpoint underdogs at best (Paddy Power odds). But this is Thomond.

Last season Kidney spoke proudly of Munster breaking new ground in reaching the last eight.

This week he said they've done no more than they did last season. They've higher standards now. You sense there's another chapter or two in this Munster story yet.