A sell-out crowd is expected in Croke Park on Saturday evening as Munster take on Leinster in the United Rugby Championship.
Munster come into the clash on the back of a 23 nil win against Ospreys while Leinster cruised to a 30-point win away to Benetton.
Munster manager Graham Rowntree says he never knew how intense the rivalry was until he became involved. 75,000 tickets have already been sold.
"It’s not bad for a club game, that, is it?" Rowntree remarked. "Tingles in my spine when you say that, and we certainly spoke about it today, the history around this stadium and this fixture."
"I always remember speaking to Stuart Lancaster. He came over here to Leinster before I did and he was telling me about how he navigates moving over and back, and travelling, and he said: ‘You realise we can never speak again’, after I joined Munster and he was with Leinster. I said: ‘What do you mean?’ But I get it now. There’s an intense rivalry there and a very respectful rivalry. They are a great team, a great team; achieved good things. They work hard, everyone has spoken about their defence, particularly with Jacques Nienaber coming; their speed off the line, they work hard, they scrum well, they make life difficult for you around the breakdown, they’ve got some great launch-plays off lineout and breaking out of mauls, so you can’t give them access."
Following Munster’s win over Ospreys on Saturday, Oli Jager (neck) and Peter O’Mahony (hamstring) are both going for scans and are unavailable this weekend.
Mike Haley has a leg contusion and his availability will be determined later in the week.
There is good news for Tom Ahern (ankle) and Alex Nankivell (shoulder) as they are both returning to training this week. Their respective availability for Croke Park will be determined later in the week. Ruadhán Quinn is following the return to play protocols and his availability will be determined later in the week.
Billy Burns is increasing his training exposure this week and the out-half’s availability will be determined later in the week. Shane Daly is unlikely to be available this week as he continues to recover from an elbow injury.
Thaakir Abrahams sustained a low-grade thigh injury against Zebre and is unavailable this week. Long-term absentees Rory Scannell (ankle) and Paddy Patterson (knee) are making good progress and will increase their training exposure this week.
Patrick Campbell will have surgery on a shoulder injury he sustained in AIL action last month. Josh Wycherley will visit a specialist this week for a neck injury.
The game gets underway at 5:45pm on Saturday.
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