Celtic League Preview: Munster, being Munster, have managed to work up a frenzy of worry ahead of tomorrow's Magners Celtic League clash at the Sportsground despite the fact that they have not lost to Connacht in two decades.
The top three Irish teams in this year's Celtic League will automatically qualify for the European Cup next season and Munster only leap-frogged Connacht in the table for the first time this season after the 22-11 win over Leinster. Munster coach Declan Kidney is emphasising the need to put further distance between themselves and Connacht.
"This game is probably an even bigger game than that against Leinster," said Kidney. "I thought Connacht were very unlucky not to get something out of their visit to Ulster, so this is a huge game for them with qualification for Europe their main goal now.
"Essentially then it is another cup final situation we're going into. All the guys who played on Wednesday can't play on Sunday, so we'll be drawing on the whole squad," said Kidney.
Munster are three points clear of Connacht in the table and while they have never lost to them in the professional era, there have been some close encounters in recent seasons.
Munster registered 3-0 wins at Dubarry Park and the Sportsground while it took an injury-time penalty for Munster to salvage a draw in Musgrave Park two years ago. Munster skipper Paul O'Connell said: "We are facing into one of the biggest matches of our Magners League season. Sunday could make or break our year in terms of qualification for Europe."
Connacht skipper John Fogarty, a former Munster player, says that they will go into the sell-out clash with a high level of confidence.
"Our performance level has been good but we have not done enough to have this reflected on the scoreboard. We were particularly disappointed to come away from Ravenhill without anything. We took the game to them for long periods, our set-piece was good but at the end we had nothing to show for it," he said.
"We know we will face a big test against Munster but we went toe-to-toe with them in Thomond Park a few weeks ago. We just need to go that extra yard."
The game will mark Connacht lock Andrew Farley's 100th outing for the province. He has been virtually ever-present for them since joining from Swansea three and a half years ago. The 26-year-old Australian, who is Irish-qualified, will have the honour of leading the side out.
Both coaches will wait until this afternoon before naming their team for the 4pm kick-off. Munster have added Christian Cullen, Tony Buckley and Donnacha Ryan, to the 22 who featured against Leinster.
Connacht have named a 24-man squad with Conor McPhillips and Stephen Knoop returning to the squad from that which played Ulster. The game is sold out and a capacity crowd of 4,560 is expected. No tickets will be available at the gate.
CONNACHT (squad): M Diffley, A Farley, A Flavin, J Fogarty, D Gannon, J Hearty, C Keane, S Knoop, M Lacey, K Matthews, M McHugh, C McPhillips, J Muldoon, R Ofisa, C O'Loughlin, C Rigney, D Riordan, T Robinson, B Sturgess, M Swift, P Warwick, B Wilkinson, G Williams, D Yapp.
MUNSTER (squad): C Cullen, S Payne, J Kelly, B Murphy, L Mafi, T Halstead, I Dowling, J Manning, R O'Gara, T O'Leary, P Stringer; D Hurley, T Buckley, F Pucciariello, F Sheahan, A Kyriacou, J Hayes, C Wyatt, D Ryan, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell capt, J O'Sullivan, J Coughlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.
