Ulster seems haunted by the ghost of last season's European Cup success, a paralysis that has seeped deep into the bones of an unwitting team. Coach Harry Williams yesterday acknowledged the unwanted legacy.
"No matter how much we try and put the European Cup triumph behind us, it still creeps in. It has been very difficult to move on, shake off last season's feelings."
Not that Ulster's two wins in three Guinness interprovincial outings this season, the last a one point defeat to Munster at Ravenhill, has been anything like a catastrophe, but there is a sense of restlessness, of potential unfulfilled. Williams's charges have hit the ground at brisk walking pace rather than running.
There have been glimpses of what this team is capable of in its victories over Leinster and Connacht, but tonight against Munster at Musgrave Park they must harness all that quality and sustain it for 80 minutes.
Ulster requires a victory to avoid plunging towards Leinster and Connacht on the points table. Only the top two teams in the interpro series qualify for next season's European Cup by right and at this moment Munster and Ulster remain firm favourites.
Post Rugby World Cup Stress Disorder (PRWCSD), coupled with the fragmented time span of the interprovincials, makes predicting a winner something of a lottery. How sharp are Keith Wood, Peter Clohessy, Dion O'Cuinneagain and Andy Ward after their exploits in the green jersey? The mental and physical scars of the national squad players remains unknown.
Munster coach Declan Kidney, with a view to both the physical demands of a long season and forthcoming European Cup action, has handed Peter Stringer a seasonal debut at scrum-half. Tom Tierney is on the bench with Brian O'Meara offered a rest. Injuries to Wood and Clohessy appear surmountable and their respective performances will be pivotal to the outcome tonight, especially given that the Ulster scrum will try and give its impressive back row the impedes to go forward.
Both teams boast decent line-outs and should secure an adequate supply of possession but as a total forward package, Munster seems to enjoy that abrasive edge. Behind the scrum, Ulster appears the more potent, the introduction of Riaz Fredericks adding physique and pace to the midfield, while James Topping and Spencer Bromley are master finishers.
If Ulster win a decent supply of possession and play the game at a high tempo using the extremities of Musgrave Park then they have the ability to continue an impressive sequence of 33 wins in 55 encounters (14 losses and eight draws) but one feels that the Munster pack, especially Alan Quinlan, David Wallace and Anthony Foley in the back row, will be the more prominent performers and give Ronan O'Gara and Mike Mullins the opportunity to dictate the game's ebb and flow.
Munster to win, narrowly.
Munster: D Crotty; J O'Neill, K Keane, M Mullins, J Kelly; R O'Gara, P Stringer; P Clohessy, K Wood, J Hayes; M Galwey (capt), J Langford; A Quinlan, A Foley, D Wallace.
Ulster: S Mason; J Topping, J Bell, R Fredericks, S Bromley; D Humphreys (capt), S Bell; J Fitzpatrick, A Clarke, S Best; M Blair, G Longwell; D O'Cuinneagain, T McWhirter, A Ward.
Referee: M Whyte (Leinster).
