Rugby/ European Cup: Not surprisingly, the full extent of the fall-out from the sometimes X-rated Clermont Auvergne-Munster game last Sunday will not be resolved until next week.

The ERC yesterday set next Thursday as the date for the various disciplinary hearings into the citings against Jerry Flannery and Clermont flanker Alexandre Audebert, as well as Wasps hooker Raphael Ibanez arising from an incident in their win over Llanelli.

A busy day for the legal fraternity in Huguenot House next Thursday so but, pending that, Flannery and Ibanez will be locking horns in the Thomond Park bearpit in Saturday's monumental Pool Five finale.

Kidney's announcement of a 28-man squad yesterday included Denis Fogarty as a third hooker in the event of Flannery's hearing being set for before Saturday, and similarly, Wasps had called in ex-Leicester hooker James Buckland as an additional player at the expense of the injured Tom Voyce.

With that cloud lifted in the immediate term, the Munster coach is optimistic that he will have a full hand to deal from, with David Wallace (knee), Rua Tipoki ("a bit of a strain") and Donncha O'Callaghan (ankle) all sitting out yesterday's double session at the University of Limerick as a precaution.

Ronan O'Gara, complete with woolly hat to protect the 20 stitches he received behind and to the top of his badly damaged right ear lobe, will again have to wear some protection on Saturday. "It was sore after the adrenalin dried up on Sunday night but I'll just strap it up and play," said O'Gara, excusing the culprit Audebert of any deliberate intent. "It hasn't caused me a moment's thought to be honest, but it's a big game on Saturday, so . . ."

Aside from possibly having a close look at the frontrow, Munster's most pressing selectorial decision will be whether to accommodate Alan Quinlan from the start and restore Denis Leamy to number eight, but Anthony Foley has given the pack a palpable leadership which had previously been lacking, most notably in the wins over Llanelli.

Given it was the most productive if most condensed day of a short week, the absence of three frontliners would not have been ideal and Kidney admitted he would have liked more time to work on the flaws apparent in their rusty opening half-hour against Clermont.

"You can't turn the ball over as often we did. We counted it and we turned the ball over 10 times in the first 20 minutes," revealed Kidney, lamenting the increased tackle count that followed in an estimated 65 phases of Clermont possession in the opening half-hour, and but for their defence the damage could have been greater. "I would say six of them (turnovers) were probably our own fault."

Kidney and the Munster brains trust can only presume that, "matches being the best sort of training you can have" their players will have been sharpened by the events of last Sunday.

"But Wasps are European Cup champions," he added, comparing them with Clermont, "so they have that experience under their belts. They're probably another level again, just in terms of the Heineken Cup. They have a record of playing away and using the crowd to invigorate themselves."

For that reason, "they don't seem to mind where they play", Kidney agreed, citing Wasps' decision to bring the opening pool game to Coventry. "When you look at the experience they have in the side, like Dallaglio, who have played in World Cup finals and European Cup finals, the venue doesn't really worry them."

Tellingly, only Leicester would rival Wasps in that regard and Munster have the acute and painful memory of losing their proud unbeaten record in Europe to the Tigers at Thomond Park on the corresponding weekend a year ago. "It's something that's historical, and it's there to remind us that just because you step out in Thomond Park doesn't give us a God-given right to win a game. It just means we have to have our performance right up there," said Kidney.

Multiple trophy winners, last season's second European Cup triumph adds to three English Premier League crowns and a European Challenge Cup in the last five seasons, and Wasps' trademark blitz defence and physicality presents a challenge which is still almost unique in itself.

More than most, Wasps base much of their strength on winning the collisions. "You just have to look at their defence," said Foley. "Outside in. In your face all day. No time. No space. That's the way they do it, and try and get as many turnovers as possible."

Both Kidney and Foley described Saturday's game as a winner-takes-all cup final, which prompted Foley to remark: "it has that bit more of a Munster Cup kind of feeling that we've been brought up on. It's something that I have good memories of, growing up and watching those sort of games, being a part of them, and the atmosphere at the ground. As a player when you're doing your pre-season you're getting prepared for the big games, so it's great when they come around and you've got a chance of playing in them."

In front of the Munster faithful and in their spiritual home, albeit a much-changed one, the kick-off at least reverts to the traditional, floodlit, tea-time slot.

"It is a bit strange; we come out from a different side of the pitch," Foley admitted of their revamped home, "but when the crowd goes up, it goes up; the volume is there and it's up to us make sure that that volume is there for the full 80 minutes on Saturday."

• Paul O'Connell is due to see a specialist later in the week, with Declan Kidney again expressing the hope that the lock's recurring disc problem in his back will not ultimately require surgery. "He's been operated on before and I suppose they'd be hopeful of not going there a second time."