Boosted by news of their captain Peter O’Mahony signing on for another three years, Munster make the familiar trip to Welford Road where fireworks are expected in the final Champions Cup match of 2017.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP – POOL 4: Sunday, December 17
LEICESTER TIGERS (4th) v MUNSTER (1st), Welford Road, 5.30pm (live BT Sport 2/beIN Sports/RTE Radio 1/highlights TG4)
Team News: Head coach Johann van Graan has made two changes to the starting XV for Munster’s Champions Cup round 4 showdown with Leicester Tigers at Welford Road this evening.
It is a first European start for hooker Kevin O’Byrne as both he and winger Darren Sweetnam are promoted from the bench this weekend, with the sidelined Andrew Conway and Rhys Marshallcontinuing to follow the return-to-play protocols.
Ireland internationals Keith Earls and Niall Scannell are notable returnees from their respective hamstring and thumb injuries and are included in the matchday 23. Billy Holland continues in the second row having already started all 13 of Munster’s matches so far this season.
There was much to admire about last Saturday’s 33-10 bonus point victory over Leicester in Limerick, but a high penalty count – Munster conceded 13 penalties compared to the visitors’ eight – has van Graan focusing on discipline ahead of the rematch.
It’s been too high. We’ve got to get the penalty count down,” explained the South African. “The interesting thing is we only had four penalties in the first half, the first 60 I think we had six or seven penalties, which is quite normal for a game of this magnitude.
“It was just the last bit, we conceded five in five minutes, which we can be a lot better in. I’ll take the positive out of that, the way that we defended our own line with the game already won and a bonus point in the bag. All credit to the players who put their bodies on the line and defended that goal line of ours with all that they had.
“But we’ve got to be better in terms of our discipline. It’s definitely not a problem. You look at every penalty by itself, there’s not a trend that we concede penalties in one specific area. There was one scrum penalty, a side-entry in a maul, two holding on penalties, one offside where one of the guys got up and tackled a guy from an offside position.
“So, it’s not a trend when we concede 10 penalties in one area. Obviously, we’d like to concede zero penalties in a perfect world but, like I said before, we want to improve every single week and I thought we did so last weekend.”
Having got his first chance to coach against a highly-rated English club, van Graan was impressed with aspects of Leicester’s play at Thomond Park and knows that they will come at Munster hard on home soil. “They’ve got quality players all round the park. I thought Dan Cole put a lot of pressure on at the breakdown in terms of stealing. I thought their maul went very well. They found a few spaces within our defensive line, especially out wide, which we’ll have to have a look at,” he said.
“Their broken field, I thought they put us under quite a lot of pressure. The second play of the game went for three or four minutes. So they’ll back themselves at home but I can’t control them, We respect them a lot, playing at their home ground, in a massive game for both teams. We’ve prepared like any normal week and hopefully we can deliver a good performance.”
Meanwhile, Leicester Tigers welcome back Matt Toomua and Manu Tuilagi for the reverse fixture with the men in red. International centres Toomua and Tuilagi are reunited in Tigers’ starting line-up, with Mathew Tait reverting to the full-back role in the absence of the injured Telusa Veainu.
Australia international hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, who arrived in Leicester this week, is included among the replacements for the much-anticipated Pool 4 contest.
Tigers head coach Matt O’Connor said: “We prepared well for last weekend but we didn’t deliver on the day and were beaten by a very committed Munster side. Now we are looking at a big reaction at home this week.
“Pool 4 is the tightest of all the groups in the competition and all four teams still have everything to play for. Matt and Manu have been training hard, they’re world-class operators and it’s great to have them back.”
LEICESTER TIGERS: Mathew Tait; Adam Thompstone, Manu Tuilagi, Matt Toomua, Jonny May; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Kyle Traynor, Tom Youngs (capt), Dan Cole, Mike Fitzgerald, Graham Kitchener, Valentino Mapapalangi, Mike Williams, Sione Kalamafoni.
Replacements: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Logovi’i Mulipola, Chris Baumann, Dom Barrow, Luke Hamilton, Sam Harrison, Joe Ford, Nick Malouf.
MUNSTER: Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Sam Arnold, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Kevin O’Byrne, Stephen Archer, Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland, Peter O’Mahony (capt), Chris Cloete, CJ Stander.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Brian Scott, John Ryan, Darren O’Shea, Jack O’Donoghue, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Keith Earls.
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees: Tual Trainini, Mathieu Noirot (both France)
Television Match Official: Philippe Bonhoure (France)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Leicester Tigers to win: 4/5; Draw: 14/1; Munster to win: 11/10
Pre-Match Quotes: Jerry Flannery (Munster) – “We were probably naive when we went into the away game (at Leicester last December) in terms of their level of physicality at the breakdown. That’s what won them the match in my opinion. We’ve got to prepare for that this week.
“I think they’re probably fitter because they move the ball an awful lot more this year but they’re probably going to target the breakdown as well. With Matt O’Connor’s comments, that was the main thing he spoke about so we’ve got to assume it’s going to be even tougher there this week.
“They will certainly be a lot stronger with those two (Manu Tuilagi and Matt Toomua) in there. Tuilagi is one of the most dangerous backs in the world with ball in hand and Toomua’s got that bit extra in terms of distribution. When you consider they’ve got (Ben) Youngs and (George) Ford and then Toomua, they’ve got such license. They like to play with width.
“I’m not sure people are aware how Leicester have evolved. They’re less of a set piece-oriented team than they used to be and are far more in their attacking shape. The threat for us and what wasn’t great at the start for us was when you’ve got Youngs there, the forwards have to get a little bit tight because of the threat he is around the ruck D.
“Then when you’ve got the distribution of himself and Ford and add in Toomua this weekend, they’ll rip you and go straight to an edge. These are some of the places we need to be better at the weekend.”
Matt O’Connor (Leicester Tigers) – “We knew the group was always going to be difficult. The away games are at a massive premium in Europe and we were disappointed to lose the game in match points terms 5-0 last week.
“But it gives us plenty of motivation to rectify what went wrong and put ourselves in the mix back in the pool. What has gone before is irrelevant. We have to front up and be better in all the aspects that let us down last weekend.
“We were a poor second in the collisions and we have to be better on what we deliver with and without the ball there. Munster scored four well-worked tries. We had enough opportunities that we did not execute on.
“In the second half we thought we could work our way back into the game but for inaccuracies. The back-to-back games are unique in this competition and there is still everything to play for in the pool for all four teams.”
Current Form – Leicester Tigers – (Aviva Premiership): Lost 27-23 v Bath (home), Lost 24-11 v Northampton Saints (away), Won 24-10 v Gloucester (home), Won 31-28 v Harlequins (away), Won 20-13 v Exeter Chiefs (home), Won 28-27 v London Irish (away); (Champions Cup): Lost 22-18 v Racing 92 (away), Won 54-29 v Castres Olympique (home); (Aviva Premiership): Won 30-13 v Newcastle Falcons (away); (Anglo-Welsh Cup): Won 26-24 v Gloucester (home), Lost 33-31 v Bath (away); (Aviva Premiership): Won 35-27 v Sale Sharks (home), Lost 31-27 v Worcester Warriors (home), Lost 32-25 v Wasps (away); (Champions Cup): Lost 33-10 v Munster (away)
Munster – (GUINNESS PRO14): Won 34-3 v Benetton Rugby (home), Won 51-18 v Toyota Cheetahs (home), Won 21-16 v Ospreys (away), Lost 37-10 v Glasgow Warriors (away), Won 39-16 v Cardiff Blues (home), Lost 23-17 v Leinster (away); (Champions Cup): Drew 17-17 v Castres Olympique (away), Won 14-7 v Racing 92 (home); (GUINNESS PRO14): Lost 20-16 v Connacht (away), Won 49-6 v Dragons (home), Won 36-19 v Zebre (away), Won 36-10 v Ospreys (home); (Champions Cup): Won 33-10 v Leicester Tigers (home)
Top Scorers – 2017/18 European Champions Cup: Leicester Tigers – Points: George Ford 30; Tries: Jonny May, Telusa Veainu 3 each; Munster – Points: Ian Keatley 17; Tries: Simon Zebo 2
Previous European Meetings: 9
Saturday, December 9, 2017 – Pool 4 – Munster 33 Leicester Tigers 10, Thomond Park
Saturday, December 17, 2016 – Pool 1 – Leicester Tigers 18 Munster 16, Welford Road
Saturday, December 10, 2016 – Pool 1 – Munster 38 Leicester Tigers 0, Thomond Park
Sunday, December 20, 2015 – Pool 4 – Leicester Tigers 17 Munster 6, Welford Road
Saturday, December 12, 2015 – Pool 4 – Munster 19 Leicester Tigers 31, Thomond Park
Saturday, January 20, 2007 – Pool 4 – Munster 6 Leicester Tigers 13, Thomond Park
Sunday, October 22, 2006 – Pool 4 – Leicester Tigers 19 Munster 21, Welford Road
Sunday, April 13, 2003 – Quarter-final – Leicester Tigers 7 Munster 20, Welford Road
Saturday, May 25, 2002 – Final – Leicester Tigers 15 Munster 9, Millennium Stadium
Match Facts –
– A comfortable 33-10 triumph in Limerick last weekend saw Munster move four points clear at the Pool 4 summit, and a rematch in Leicester in round 4’s final fixture could see the province reopen that lead after Racing 92 drew level with them yesterday following a 29-7 bonus point defeat of Castres
– Munster’s crucial bonus-point win came as Simon Zebo collected his second Champions Cup try of the campaign, with captain Peter O’Mahony, Rhys Marshall and Chris Cloete also making marks on the scoresheet
– Leicester Tigers will seek revenge today and hope that England winger Jonny May, who has tallied up three tries so far in Europe, can return to scoring form
– If they are to prevail, Leicester must contain Ireland back rower CJ Stander, who has made 53 carries already in the Champions Cup, more than any other player, as well as completing 46 tackles, ranking him fifth in the competition so far
– The lineout battle will be fierce as Peter O’Mahony, currently ranked fourth with 14 wins, takes on third-placed Graham Kitchener of Leicester Tigers. The Aviva Premiership side are seeking a sixth victory in ten meetings with the Munstermen
European Cup Records:
Leicester Tigers –
2016/17: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2015/16: Reached the semi-finals
2014/15: Failed to qualify from Pool 3
2013/14: Reached the quarter-finals
2012/13: Reached the quarter-finals
2011/12: Failed to qualify from Pool 4
2010/11: Reached the quarter-finals
2009/10: Failed to qualify from Pool 3
2008/09: Runners-up
2007/08: Failed to qualify from Pool 6
2006/07: Runners-up
2005/06: Reached the quarter-finals
2004/05: Reached the semi-finals
2003/04: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2002/03: Reached the quarter-finals
2001/02: Champions
2000/01: Champions
1999/00: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
1997/98: Reached the quarter-finals
1996/97: Runners-up
Munster –
2016/17: Reached the semi-finals
2015/16: Failed to qualify from Pool 4
2014/15: Failed to qualify from Pool 1
2013/14: Reached the semi-finals
2012/13: Reached the semi-finals
2011/12: Reached the quarter-finals
2010/11: Failed to qualify from Pool 3
2009/10: Reached the semi-finals
2008/09: Reached the semi-finals
2007/08: Champions
2006/07: Reached the quarter-finals
2005/06: Champions
2004/05: Reached the quarter-finals
2003/04: Reached the semi-finals
2002/03: Reached the semi-finals
2001/02: Runners-up
2000/01: Reached the semi-finals
1999/00: Runners-up
1998/99: Reached the quarter-finals
1997/98: Failed to qualify from Pool D
1996/97: Failed to qualify from Pool D
1995/96: Failed to qualify from Pool D
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