O’Mahony Looks Ahead To Tigers Test

Munster captain Peter O’Mahony is expecting a huge battle on Saturday night as Leicester Tigers visit Thomond Park for a vital Champions Cup encounter (7.45pm – tickets available here).

Leicester are the only side to travel to Munster and win more than once and with that record, O’Mahony is expecting the Tigers to arrive in Limerick with confidence, not fear.

“They’re the only team in Europe to come here to Thomond Park and won twice,” said the Munster captain. “I don’t think fear factor will be an issue for them – they won’t be worried about that. The European Cup is a different kettle of fish for both of us. You take that as motivation, and there’s a huge amount at stake. They’re a very proud club in Europe and in the Premiership so they’ll come out and try and beat us at the weekend.”

This is the third season in a row that Munster and Leicester have met in the pool stage, with Leicester winning three of the previous four meetings between the clubs although Munster did come out on top in this fixture last season.

“The back to back fixtures are like a little battle on their own, and obviously we have a huge amount of history with Leicester,” said O’Mahony.

“We’ve had some great encounters with them and they are a different animal in the Champions Cup, and we are expecting a quality, quality performance from them.

“It’s nice for us to have a couple of guys coming back from international duty, a nice confidence booster for guys who got involved and with three good wins in an international environment. You bring your experiences back down always to provincial level. Those experiences for the broader group of guys, and younger guys – they’re invaluable. Obviously the more experience you get at that level, the better you become at European Cup level.”

Greencore Munster Rugby Academy player Calvin Nash has been added to Munster’s European Champions Cup squad with Jaco Taute set to miss the coming months with a knee injury sustained early this season.

O’Mahony said: “It is part of professional rugby and sport that you pick up knocks here and there. We’ve had our fair share over the years, and it is never something that we use as an excuse. There’ll be opportunities for guys over the next few weeks that they hadn’t expected, but it’s always a strong point for Munster Rugby and the Irish provinces that we are producing good young kids through our academies all the time, and we will probably have to call on a few of them. We have a couple of very special young fells coming through that are well capable of doing a job for us.”

Saturday, December 9

Munster v Leicester Tigers, Thomond Park, 7.45pm;

Referee: Jerome Garces (Fra), Assistant Ref: Ludovic Cayre (Fra), Assistant Ref: Jonathan Dufort (Fra), TMO: Phillippe Bonhoure (Fra), Citing Commissioner: John Montgomery (Sco).

Tickets

Tickets from: Adults €20; Juniors €10; Students €10 – purchase online here, from the Munster Rugby Ticket Offices at Irish Independent Park and Thomond Park, or by calling 061 421103.