Ronan O’Gara looked back to his best last Friday as he scored all of his team’s 24 points in the win over Perpignan. But the return match in Stade Aime Giral will require a much-improved performance from his 14 teammates.
The French champions have won their last 16 Heineken Cup games on home territory and will be out to prove their worth against the two time winners.
Denis Fogarty will line out at hooker amidst the news that exploratory surgery on Jerry Flannery’s achilles tendon has indicated he will be fit to return in late january, instead of the three month lay off which had been initially feared.
Jean DeVilliers is pushing for a recall to the centre after he was omitted in favour of the dynamic Keith Earls, but Lifeimi Mafi may be the one feeling under threat from the South African as he struggles for form.
Defeat in Catalonia by more than seven points would move Munster down to third in the table (assuming Northampton overcome Treviso.) With only first place guaranteed to progress, McGahans men might just need another miracle match at Thomond Park to reach the quarterfinals.
Like the southern province, Ulster will face a French team seeking revenge with defeat fresh in the memory. Victory for Stade Francais will not be the formality it may have been for the parisiens, as they have hindered themselves by moving the game to what will be effectively a neutral venue in Brussels.
Coach Brian McLaughlin looks set to be able to welcome back BJ Botha, Paddy Wallace and Timoci Nagusa who all missed the Ravenhill clash due to injury
A further boost for the red hand province should come on Thursday in the form of lenghty suspensions for Stade scrumhalf Julian Dupuy and prop David Atoub, both guilty of eye gouging in Belfast.
The pair apologised publicly on Tuesday with Dupuy stating: "I don't think I'm a dirty player.'' But the number nine did admit: "The pictures aren't really in my favor but I really didn't mean to put my fingers in his eyes.”
The apology is unlikely to affect the citing commission and if the duo are found guilty they would face a minimum suspension of 12 weeks. Noel Herman Gelschig who came on to replace fly-half Lionel Beauxis last week is the most likely to wear the number nine jersey.
Leinster coach Michael Cheika looked to have no further injury concerns as he named his squad on Tuesday. Shaun Berne will continue at number 10 while Jonathon Sexton recovers from a broken hand.
Inviting Llanelli back to the RDS the boys in blue will look for a repeat of a first half, which saw them blitz the Scarlets for 22 points. Cheika has highlighted the drop in intensity and performance in the second half of that game, and the home side led by Brian O’Driscoll will look to put that to rights.
Shane Horgan placed himself into the rugby hall of fame at Parc y Scarlets, as he became only the fourth player to notch 25 European Cup tries. The winger is set to escape the citing commissioner after he foolishly (but harmlessly) placed his hands on the face of fullback Daniel Evans, although the incident was incomparable to Depuy’s double attack on Stephen Ferris.
Pool six will reach its climax in the last week of January when Cheika’s men travel to London Irish seeking to avenge Octobers defeat against the exiles. With the teams level on points, Leinster will seek to maximise their tally while at the RDS before visiting the Madejski stadium.
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