Away date with Exiles a tough start for Munster

HEINEKEN CUP:ULSTER AND Leinster have negotiated home advantage on the opening weekend of the 2011 Heineken Cup with Munster making the short hop across the Irish Sea to take on London Irish at the Madejski Stadium in the Saturday tea-time (5.45pm) fixture.

Defending champions Toulouse host previous winners London Wasps in arguably the tie of the round on Sunday, October 10th.

Historically Munster have elected to travel on the first weekend of the tournament and they face the Exiles in a fixture that could yet be moved to Twickenham. Last season in the final round of matches, London Irish played Leinster at that venue.

Munster will then welcome a star-studded Toulon squad that is likely to include Jonny Wilkinson and former Leinster playmaker Felipe Contepomi to Thomond Park seven days later. When the tournament resumes in December, they face back-to-back fixtures against Magners League title holders, the Ospreys, in a six-day period. The first clash takes place in Limerick on Sunday, December 12th (1pm) while Tony McGahan’s men travel to Swansea the following Saturday (3.30pm).

The Munster coach said: “First and foremost, we recognise the quality of the opposition we face in our Pool. There are no weak sides, each of them I believe, well capable of winning the competition; certainly all well capable of getting results on the road.

“Home advantage is important but can also bring its own pressures particularly in round one but London Irish will prove a massive challenge. They were just edged out of a place in the play-offs last season and prior to that lost narrowly in the semi-final. Toulon represent a little bit of an unknown quantity in the respect that we’ve never played them before.

“We’ve seen plenty of them and it’s probably better to get them in Limerick first up. (Then, it is) back to back against the Ospreys with first game at home in Thomond Park. They won there last time and will travel in confidence. . . .”

All four of Munster’s fixtures prior to Christmas will be shown live on Sky Sports. London Irish inflicted a rare home defeat on Leinster in the opening fixture of last season’s competition at the RDS and came within a whisker of making the play-offs.

Coach Toby Booth spoke positively about the club’s chances. “I believe we’ve got a team that can compete at the highest level on a regular basis.

“If you look at the results from last year, particularly the Leinster games, it reinforces my point. If it was insurmountable we’d put out the academy team, but we won’t because it’s a marker of measuring the progress of your players. They are markers of performance and achievement; they breed self-confidence and show that you’re going in the right direction.”

The 2009 champions Leinster begin their campaign against the Pierre Berbizier-coached Racing-Metro 92 on Saturday, October 9th at the RDS (1.30pm). They then travel to take on the beaten Aviva Premiership finalists, Saracens, the following weekend; it’s a match that’s listed for Vicarage Road but could be switched to Wembley.

Leinster’s new coach Joe Schmidt will then take his new charges to his former club, Clermont Auvergne on Sunday, December 12th (3pm, Irish time). The French champions travel to Dublin six days later for the second in successive fixtures between the teams.

Sky Sports have chosen to show three of the Leinster matches live but the first game against Clermont in Stade Marcel Michelin has been overlooked for real-time screening, the satellite broadcaster instead electing to broadcast live London Irish’s home game against Toulon.

Ulster are the first Irish province into action in the tournament as they host the new Italian franchise Aironi on Friday, October 8th at Ravenhill (7.30pm). The province’s director of operations, David Humphreys, said: “The players are in week five of pre-season training which has gone really well and the draw heightens the sense of anticipation of competing in Europe’s premier tournament once again – we’re all looking forward to getting the campaign under way.”

Ulster then travel to last season’s beaten finalists Biarritz Olympique (Sunday, October 17th, 3pm, Irish time) and in December renew acquaintances with a Bath team they beat home and away in last season’s competition: those two matches will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

Coach Brian McLaughlin’s preparations received a fillip as former Springbok international Pedrie Wannenberg started training with his new team-mates 24 hours after arriving in Belfast. He was excused dune-running duties but the three-time Super 14-winning former Blue Bull wanted to get stuck in straight away. The 29-year-old, 6ft 5in backrow, who can also play in the secondrow, won the last of his 20 caps in 2007 but hasn’t given up hopes of rekindling that ambition. His signing is a significant coup for Ulster.