Lourdes being a bit out of the way, Munster's walking wounded once again had to make do with a restorative trip to their own retreat in Clonakilty and the healing spas of Inchydoney island this week. It has worked before - a fortnight before beating Stade Francais in the quarter-final last year, Munster also regrouped in Clonakilty.

However, coach Declan Kidney argues that Munster no longer have the element of surprise they had then (nor home advantage) against opponents with "awesome" strength in depth.

Stade Francais have kept ticking over on alternate weeks during the Six Nations, and victory this weekend over Castres would almost certainly mean they top their pool in the French Championship, which guarantees qualification for next season's European Cup.

By comparison Kidney points out that it has been 11 weeks since Munster's quarter-final win over Biarritz, and that they've had only four training sessions between that match and this week.

"The difference between our preparation for the game against Stade Francais last season and now is that last year the players had come off an international season and were going well," said Kidney. "This time, we have been starved of international rugby because of the foot-and-mouth problem and some of the players who have been playing club rugby are now injured."

The tight five and the three-quarter line should be intact, and there's a good chance that Dominic Crotty will be fit enough to be named in Munster's starting line-up for the clash with a Rest of Ireland team on Friday at Thomond Park. But Munster have doubts over all of their established middle five.

Alan Quinlan (broken thumb) and David Wallace (damaged knee ligaments) are ruled out of both Friday's game and the Saturday week semi-final. Peter Stringer (bruised ankle ligaments) is definitely out for Friday. The Munster and Ireland scrumhalf will be assessed this week but is also doubtful for the Euro semi-final, whereas Anthony Foley (damaged medial ligaments) has resumed light contact work and should play for some of Friday's game.

A possible back row, therefore, is Foley flanked by Donnacha O'Callaghan on the blind side and Jerry Murray on the open side; Colm McMahon and David Bowles are further options.

Another positive note is that Ronan O'Gara expects to play, despite the somewhat slow recovery of his bruised hip. He was sidelined last weekend for Constitution's match against Galwegians.

"I trained yesterday and today. I didn't do contact, I did some tackling but I didn't take any hits," he said yesterday. "I'll wait until Thursday for that but I should have no problem for this Friday. I have to play, I need a good game."

There are plenty of agendas this Friday, and as the Lions backroom team of Graham Henry, Donal Lenihan and Andy Robinson will attend, the last reference is a clear nod toward the forthcoming Lions selection.

"To be honest, yes," O'Gara admits. "There's no point in saying otherwise when virtually every fella is thinking about it. It's like a mini Irish trial for the Lions. People mightn't say it but we all know it.

"But if Munster do well, hopefully the rest will look after itself. The team comes first on Friday, individuals are secondary. That's been the secret to our success. When we pull together as a team the individual rewards take care of themselves."

We've been down this road before, with Munster versus Ireland, as recently as September 1999, when the entire provincial starting line-up was nursing a collective grievance over their exclusion from the Irish World Cup squad and duly proved their point by embarrassing the national team with a deserved 26-19 victory. "The shoe is on the other foot this time," concedes O'Gara. "At that time we were a bit peed off that other fellas, for different reasons, had what we thought were our places on the Irish team. So we were quite geared up for it, whereas this time half the positions on the Munster team are on the Irish team, so some of the players on the Rest of Ireland team might feel they have a point to prove."

In another way, too, this Friday's meeting is the flip side of that 1999 Musgrave Park contest in that then the Irish players were

mindful of the impending World Cup whereas this time the Munster contingent are using this game as a warm-up for their European Cup semi-final.

O'Gara disagrees, though. "We need a match and it's clear we've got to perform in this match. We've a lot of work to do and it's all calculated to ensure that we get back to our customary level in a two-week period. Therefore we've got to produce a good performance this Friday and, besides, if we take this game any way lightly we'll be hockeyed. They've got some top players on view."

Adding to the attractions of a fairly star-studded "Rest" selection - with 13 internationals including Brian O'Driscoll - the choice of date, venue and kick-off time are all conducive to an anticipated, near sell-out, all-ticket affair. This in turn should ensure an altogether greater edge to proceedings than, say, for the Euro warm-up between Munster and Leinster in Cork last January which the visitors won 15-13.

Munster went to Newport the following week and kick-started their season with one of their famous comeback wins. Looking back to the Leinster game, a palpably annoyed O'Gara recalls: "We played poorly. We didn't get going that night but this is a much bigger game in its own right.

"Hopefully, it will be a dry night because we'll be looking to play our patterns and we need to be tested in a big-match atmosphere, playing under pressure and a whole new intensity compared to an AIL game. We'll need to quickly establish a pace and keep the pace up through the 80 minutes."