European Cup Semi-final countdown: Munster rugby may be famed for a ferocious and warring temperament, but when the cause dictates they can by mightily diplomatic as well. As the border between Munster and Leinster reaches molten point this week, the main aim of the team yesterday was to stay strictly neutral. Keith Duggan reports from Limerick
They are treating this like any other week, and so the mood in the famous rugby ground was as relaxed as ever.
Peter Stringer stood chewing the fat with a couple of television men, David Wallace stood under the pleasant April rays and Jerry Flannery walked across the car park towards a 4x4 with such purpose that for a faint second you could not be sure if he was going to tackle it or merely drive away.
On a sunny day in Limerick, the Thomond boys met for their penultimate training session and then headed for the various citadels of planet Munster as Declan Kidney went through the formality of announcing the team squad.
Kidney is one of the most inscrutable men in Irish sport, and if his heart is beating faster at the thought of pulling the strings in what is destined to be one of the most famous Irish rugby games in the history of the sport, he hid it well. As ever, Kidney delivered his lines in cheerful, measured tones, eyes twinkling as he defused all potentially inflammatory questions.
The main worry in the build-up to Sunday's civil war was Marcus Horan. The Irish prop took part in yesterday morning's workout but will still have to undergo some rehabilitative work before the team is finalised.
"Marcus is struggling a bit," said Kidney lightly. "We still have to make a decision. After that, Freddie (Pucciariello) and Eugene McGovern as well. That is about all I can say on that."
Although it has been an uneven few weeks for Munster in the bread-and-butter fare of the Celtic League, there is the sense that the province is priming itself for another - and possibly a final - shot at European glory. The injuries that have bothered the squad in recent times are beginning to clear, and even Christian Cullen, the great New Zealand strike runner whose chance to leave an impression on the continental competition has been sadly reduced by injury is, theoretically at least, in the reckoning.
Young Tomás O'Leary, whose fearless play was a feature of Munster's midwinter excursions, is also on the mend.
"Yeah, Tomás took a part in the training and Christian Cullen took a greater part," said Kidney. "Jeremy Manning came through the session fine, as did Denis Leamy. Ronan came through fine and was out goal-kicking afterwards.
"We need all these players, and everyone is in with a chance of selection," Kidney said, eyeing the squad list.
But like Leinster, half this Munster team picks itself. As ever, flanking Kidney was Munster's talisman and leader, Anthony Foley, who is looking forward to his 75th match in this competition. Although he has been involved in some of the team's most celebrated games, surely this showdown in Dublin 4 takes the biscuit.
"Definitely," he allowed, before qualification. "Because it is the next. We will play it as an ordinary game. If we lose, life goes on."
But for Foley, dropped by Ireland for the Six Nations campaign despite showing a rich vein of form for his province, preparing for such a gargantuan game must make him feel as though the world is back on its axis.
"Ah, it's happened before, being left out," he said casually. "This is definitely an opportunity that the players on both teams will relish. I am a guy that likes to play rather than train, and I have three good games behind me now in recent times and am feeling pretty good. You know, we started back in July, and playing in games like this is what makes all the pre-season stuff worth it."
Foley's exclusion from Ireland did not prevent Munster from dominating the international pack during the Six Nations. So powerful and established is the Munster pack that Sunday's semi-final has been distilled to a stark battle between the power and control of the Munster forwards and the dancing feet of the Leinster backs.
Kidney, though, grimaced at the thought of Munster holding an advantage in heavy artillery.
"The Leinster pack is a formidable unit," he countered. "They only lost Mal (O'Kelly) to the Six Nations so they were able to maintain that. Perhaps they had a few problems against Toulouse, but overall they outplayed the pack and are very strong."
On it went, all inquiries gently parried.
At the end, though, Kidney shrugged when asked what he hoped from the day.
"I hope we all wake up Monday morning. Win or lose, we move on with our lives and somebody has won and somebody has lost."
MUNSTER (squad): P Burke, C Cullen, I Dowling, J Flannery, D Fogarty, A Foley, T Halstead, J Hayes, R Henderson, T Hogan, M Horan, A Horgan, J Kelly, S Keogh, D Leamy, J Manning, E McGovern, M Mullins, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, M O'Driscoll, R O'Gara, T O'Leary, J O'Sullivan, S Payne, M Prendergast, F Pucciariello, F Roche, P Stringer, D Wallace.
