Thomond Park appeared to be overtaken by hordes of Lilliputians yesterday as about a thousand schoolchildren descended on the sacred ground for an open session 24 hours before the Munster team's departure to France. With school out, the bandwagon is regaining momentum.
It's a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, like all modern day professional sports teams, Munster would like to keep themselves cocooned and focused for such a massive game as Saturday's European Cup semi-final against Stade Francais in Lille. On the other, such is the huge motivational link with their supporters that few teams are so inclined to tap into it as they are.
"Training today and all the kids outside just brings the whole thing back to us again," admitted Mick Galwey, "and when you've so many people around and a bit of hype it just brings home how important the game is to us and everybody involved."
"We're a year further down the road and hopefully the experience we gained both on and off the pitch will help us to deal with it," said coach Declan Kidney yesterday, "but it's always a fresh challenge. Last year I described it as a journey which nobody knew where it was going to take us. To be back this year is just like a dream."
Cocooned henceforth though they may be, the hype won't stop with Munster's departure. For starters they'll be accompanied by at least 8,000 fellow travellers from Ireland after the Munster Branch sold their entire allotment.
"When you consider that 3,500 or 4,000 travelled to last year's semi-final in Bordeaux and that was regarded as a lot, the interest is phenomenal," admitted Munster Branch chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald.
Every tour operator is full to the limit for a travelling contingent to rival and even surpass away internationals, and perhaps in part because of the postponed Irish sorties to Wales and Scotland, this has intensified the interest. Even so, a charter from Kerry airport is assuredly a first as Munster continue to take the game to parts of the country other teams couldn't reach.
The unseasonal downpours of recent days in northern France have resulted in the stadium in Lille being covered since yesterday up until match time and, a mite disappointing, the local temperatures are identical to hereabouts.
Pointing out that Munster's semi-final performance in Bordeaux last year against Toulouse ranks amongst their very best, Galwey added that for all of Munster's experience of the rain, "to be honest with you we'd prefer a dry pitch and a dry day."
Kidney yesterday went through the ritual of naming a 24-man squad to travel to Lille, which will probably become 25 by the time of today's mid-day departure by charter flight if it is deemed that Conor Mahony is required as additional cover for John Kelly, whose tweaked hamstring is difficult to assess at this juncture.
Peter Stringer (badly bruised ankle) and Dominic Crotty (bruised hip) were rated 60-40 chances yesterday, with the rapidly recuperating David Wallace "slightly worse than 50-50" according to Kidney, though significantly all of them trained to some extent.
Furthermore, Wallace is one of only five named back-row players, also including Dion O'Cuinneagain and Colm McMahon, to the exclusion of Ultan O'Callaghan, Jerry Murray and David Bowles. Stade Francais are expected to pick from a squad of 23, which includes flankers Christophe Moni (the club having appealed his automatic one-game ban for incurring two yellow cards in domestic competition) and Richard Pool-Jones, still doubtful with a shoulder injury.
The former Colomiers back row Patrick Tabacco is the alternative, leaving coach John Connolly with one other selectorial dilemma, whether to have a second prop on the bench, in the Uruguayan Pablo Lemoine, or a third back in either Julien Berthe or Artur Gomes. Scrumhalf Christophe Laussucq didn't train for the last couple of days because of a knee injury but is optimistic of playing.
Theoretically, the teams will be announced at a joint press conference in Lille tomorrow, but Kidney is not applying any deadlines for his walking wounded.
"We could be without five or six of the players who played in the quarter-final," admitted Kidney. "We also have to be fair to the guys who could be coming in and I've no problems (with) them coming in. So we'll just bide our time and wait and see."
It's said that a team reflects its coach's persona and, like their coach, this Munster squad are a phlegmatic lot. As Galwey pointed out, they've shrugged their shoulders over significant losses in personnel before.
"We can't think about what could be or might be. We've lost Woody (Keith Wood) and Eddie Halvey since last year, and we've carried on without them and whoever's missing on Saturday we'll just have to carry on without them as well. "Whoever takes the field on Saturday I can guarantee you they'll be up for it and 100 per cent right on the day."
MUNSTER SQUAD: D Crotty, A Horgan, J O'Neill, J Kelly, K Keane, Conor Mahony, M Mullins, J Holland, R O'Gara, J Staunton, P Stringer, T Tierney; J Hayes, P Clohessy, M Horan, F Sheahan, J Blaney, M Galwey, J Langford, M O'Driscoll, D O'Callaghan, D O'Cuinneagain, D Wallace, C McMahon, A Foley.
