Opposition Watch

With just a little over three weeks to go before Munster begin their Heineken Cup campaign, their pool opponents all enjoyed winning returns from their latest outings.

Perhaps the most impressive was Castres Olympique whose 24-3 home win over, Toulouse, their sixth consecutive victory, took them to the top of the Top 14 League table, one point ahead of Clermont Auvergne. Munster play the French side away on November 19th.

The side they play first (Nov 12th), Northampton Saints, ended a miserable run of four successive defeats with a 33-3 win over Exeter Chiefs at Franklin's Gardens thanks to a sixteen point haul from out-half Ryan Lamb, James Downey among the try scorers.

And finally Scarlets, whose last outing in the RaboDirect PRO12 League yielded a 32-17 win over Edinburgh returned to Parc Y Scarlets to register a 31-3 victory over Leicester Tigers in the LV Cup. Munster play the Welsh side in the back-to-back matches in December.