Welford Road Awaits

Get the pre-match stats as Munster prepare for Round 4 of the European Champions Cup where they travel to Welford Road for the first time since 2006. Conor Murray also chats about the men in red’s ambition to get their European season back on track this weekend.

Last Sunday marked the fifth occasion that Munster and Leicester have met in European competition and the Englishmen’s victory continued the trend of neither side ever winning against the other on home soil. Indeed that is a trend Munster will hope to continue this weekend but will face a massive challenge in doing so with Leicester having won 26 and drawn two of their last 29 home games.

As was predicted, Leicester’s Brendan O’Connor and his back-row colleagues proved hugely influential in Sunday’s proceedings – Lachlan McCaffrey also picking up man of the match – and O’Connor will again be on Munster’s radar this weekend having now won more turnovers than any other player in the tournament (7).

Round 3’s 19-31 defeat in Limerick saw Tigers become the first visiting club in history to record two European wins in at Thomond Park, however Conor Murray and his provincial teammates will look to bounce back in Welford Road and make it three European wins a piece.

“It was a tough and quiet dressing room on Saturday night. Heading into this weekend we’ve got to make things happen as a group and we can’t be negative with each other, we’ve got to put an arm around each other’s shoulder and say let’s go do this which is exactly what we did at the start of the week. We had a really good, tough and physical session today (Tuesday) and it represented what it’s going to be like on Sunday – we’re fully focused as a group together.

“It’s been a frustrating time, especially over the last three week where we’ve had three consecutive defeats, but I can tell you there’s no one working harder than the players and management to get this one right.

“We grew up watching this team win and we want to win with this team and put our own mark on the jersey and the history of this club.”

Leicester Tigers v Munster, European Champions Cup Round 4, Sunday December 20^th at Welford Road – KO 5.15pm.

Team Comparison – European Cup record

Match Officials

• Referee: Jerome Garces (France)
• Touch Judge 1: Thomas Charabas (France)
• Touch Judge 2: Salem Attalah (France)
• TMO: Jean-Marie Piraveau (France)
• Citing Commissioner: Jeff Mark (Wales)