As a player, there’s no greater feeling than running out to a packed Thomond Park on a big European night.
If you ever had any doubts during the game, or if it’s not going your way, the crowd always pull you through and it’s pretty special having them on your side. Every player in a red jersey gets a boost playing on these nights, and their passion has always dragged Munster through in the end.
As for Clermont, they have been a bit erratic this year, but they still have some players that can change a game in an instant. No French team has ever won at Thomond Park, but if you had to bet on it, Clermont and Toulon would be the only sides capable of it.
It’s certainly going to be close, but I think Munster will get just about do enough, and their pack will have a lot to do with that. Defensively they’re good in the backline, but apart from Simon Zebo, there isn’t a huge amount of attacking flair available, so I think it’ll be a real big game for the forwards, and Ian Keatley will have to be sharp with his kicking.
Both sides have aspirations of going a long way in this competition, and I think it’ll be one of those days where every little thing will be vital in the 80 minutes. The first 15 or 20 minutes will tell us a lot. If things are tight, I do fancy Munster to win by around six points, because as we saw earlier against Saracens and Sale, they’re incredible at grinding out results late in games.
It would be great to prevent Clermont picking up a bonus point, but with the game-changers that the French side have, Munster will be delighted to get any kind of win ahead of the return game next week.
As for the other game in the pool,Sale have a really good record at home, and I actually think they’ll get the better of Saracens on Saturday. Saracens are a side with genuine title aspirations, but with Danny Cipriani in form at the moment, Sale have real potential to cause an upset.
Again, I think it’ll be close, but Sale looked really good in the opening half against Munster, and I think their pack will make things difficult for Saracens, so they have a real legitimate claim to do Munster a favour this weekend.
Regardless of how Sale and Saracens finishes, I don’t expect Munster’s players to treat the Clermont match any differently though. They’ll have been preparing specifically for the game all week, so they won’t deviate from the script based on the earlier game in the pool. Anthony Foley might be doing the permutations in his head, but as far as the players go, they’ll be too focused to get distracted by other games.
There seems to be a lot of hype around the English clubs, but no Premiership side has won the competition since Wasps in 2007.
With that in mind, Leinster’s opponents this weekend Harlequins are a team I think are being built up big-time by the media over there, and while they have some incredible players like Mike Brown, Chris Robshaw, Joe Marler and Nick Evans, they haven’t gelled consistently as a team.
They have the ability to cause any side in Europe trouble, and if Nick Evans is on form he could be a key player, but Leinster are so experienced at these kind of games, I just think they’ll find enough to get the win.
Like Harlequins, Matt O’Connor’s side have also struggled with consistency this season, but they’re a seasoned side in the competition and really understand the dynamics of winning away from home.
I think Harlequins can be weak sometimes under pressure, and if Leinster take the game to them early on in the backline and don’t allow Quins’ big pack dominate the game, I can see them winning by around 10 points.
I really like Ulster, they play some great rugby, but unfortunately I can’t see them getting out of their pool. I think they’ll win this weekend against Scarlets, but overall they’ve lacked a bit of luck.
Had they been able to open the campaign against the Scarlets they could have got a win under their belts, and given themselves some confidence for a really difficult pool, but the pressure of opening the season away in Welford Road, and then going straight into a meeting with Toulon meant they were up against it from the start.
It’s an incredibly tough pool, and I just think it’ll be too big an ask for them.
