Countdown To Connacht

As the season run-in continues to hot up, the results of each remaining round will have a decisive impact on the league’s top-6 and ultimately who qualifies for next season’s Champions Cup and the PRO12 play-offs.

Following Round 19’s narrow loss to table toppers Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, the challenge doesn’t get any easier for Anthony Foley’s charges this coming Saturday when they visit neighbouring province Connacht who currently lie second in the league standings.
 
On Friday, Munster players and fans alike will take a vested interest in proceedings at the RDS when Leinster host seventh placed Edinburgh Rugby.  The men in red will be hoping their provincial counterparts can do them a favour by defeating the Scotsmen who lie within one point and one league place of Munster’s current Champions Cup spot.
 
Munster v Connacht at the Sportsground will round off a Super Saturday of action in the Guinness PRO12.  No doubt motivated by a heart-breaking European Challenge Cup exit to Grenoble on Saturday, Connacht will now focus solely on their quest for a first ever Guinness PRO12 title with three-time champions Munster first in the firing line.
 
Speaking in the aftermath of Saturday’s European loss, Connacht captain John Muldoon said, “We have to remember this sick feeling and use it to drive us on for next week against Munster.”
 
In the lead up to this weekend’s game, Munster captain CJ Stander commented, “The next few weeks are vital for us. It is like cup rugby, we want to get into that fourth spot and stay in that top-6.
 
”You can't really take a step back. You have to look at yourself. So we will be hard on ourselves for the next few weeks.”
 
Second only to Cardiff in the attacking stakes, Connacht have maintained their impressive league form of late and enter this weekend’s game off the back of just one loss in their last seven games – losing to Ulster on April 1^st.  Massively consistent at home this season also, the Connacht-men have only suffered one home PRO12 defeat in Galway – incidentally also against Ulster on December 26^th.
  
Munster’s last four matches have all been won by the home side, a trend they will hope to buck this weekend, while Connacht have won two of their last three fixtures with Munster.  That said, they have never achieved a season’s double over their southern neighbours.
 
Munster v Connacht, Guinness PRO12 Round 20, Saturday April 16^th at the Sportsground, Galway – KO 7.15pm.
  
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU, 22nd competition game)
Assistant Referees: Gary Conway, Nigel Correll (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner:  Eddie Wigglesworth (IRFU)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU)