Dangerman Diego – Gaffney

Alan Gaffney will demand his side keep their discipline when they tackle Stade Francais Paris on Saturday – and not give Diego Dominguez easy points.

DANGERMAN DIEGO – GAFFNEY

Alan Gaffney will demand his side keep their discipline when they tackle Stade Francais Paris on Saturday – and not give Diego Dominguez easy points.

Dominguez has rattled up a record 633 points in the tournament and Munster coach Gaffney declared: “They are strong right across the paddock, from 1 to 15. “They have a very strong pack of forwards – they dominated Ulster and Leicester up front – with their line-out and maul particularly effective. Behind that they have an exciting backline led by Diego Dominguez.

“We must try and not give him the opportunities to hurt us with his boot as his phenomenal points scoring record in the Heineken Cup speaks for itself. Give him any latitude and he will surely punish you.

“But we are really looking forward to what will be an extremely hard contest, as you would expect against a squad containing 20 internationals.

“It will be good to have our entire front row back, as a precaution we gave them the extra week to get over their minor injuries picked up playing for Ireland, and also half backs Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara – they bring a different dimension to our game.

“Both sides know what it takes to win through to a Heineken Cup final, there is a wealth of experience in both teams, and that should make for a fascinating game.

“Playing at Thomond Park should be a potential advantage but we are taking absolutely nothing for granted – Stade Fran ais dispelled any supposed travelling fear factor when they won at Welford Road.”

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MUST MATCH MUNSTER – DE VILLIERS

Stade Fran ais Paris and Munster have already established something of an annual meeting at the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup – Saturday’s Thomond Park showdown will be the fourth time in the past five tournaments they have clashed in a winner-takes-all contest.

Munster won the quarter-final meetings in 2000 and 2002 by 27-10 and 16-14 margins, the Paris club triumphing 16-15 in the 2001 semi-final in Lille.

“It’s very tough to play in Munster – it always is,” said international prop Pieter de Villiers. “They are a very physical side and we have to take the game to them and match them physically. I think if we do that, we could have a chance of coming away from Ireland with a result for the first time.

“It’s all or nothing at this stage. We don’t have much realistic chance of getting to the play-offs of the French Championships – which means that our only chance of qualifying for next season’s Heineken Cup is to win it.

“To qualify is very important, which puts more pressure on our shoulders, but at the same time you could say we’ve got nothing to lose and everything to play for.

“We have played Munster twice in quarter-finals and lost on both occasions so hopefully this will be third time lucky. We’ve had a difficult season and it’s hard to explain why we haven’t played well at certain times – rugby is not a science.

“Having said that, we have done well in our Heineken Cup matches and there’s no reason why we can’t go over there and produce the goods on Saturday.”