On the face of it, Ian Costello’s side look to hold all the aces for today’s British & Irish Cup clash with Aberavon at Tralee RFC (1pm).
Not only do they have the comfort of a ground they're well familiar with having won here last season in this competition but they also have an array of players who have plenty of RaboDirect PRO12 and indeed Heineken Cup experience behind them.
And none more so than Peter Stringer with 227 Munster caps to his credit who will provide the link between a pack containing Ian Nagle Dave Foley, Dave O'Callaghan and Tommy O'Donnell and a backline that includes Scott Deasy, Danny Barnes and two players who have a proven nose for the tryline Corey Hircock and full back Luke O'Dea.
Hircock scored twice against Plymouth Albion last week and might have had a third while O'Dea has five Rabo tries to his credit from just nine starts.
For their part Aberavon, or the Wizards as they're sometimes called, will not be travelling light on ambition despite their opening round home loss to Rotherham Titans.
They led that game 13-0 before, partly indiscipline – they had two forwards yellow-carded -, partly tough decisions and partly missed opportunities all contributed to a four (25-21) point defeat.
But they did play a load of rugby and scored a cracking try from full back John Phillips, lively wing Stefan Andrews scored another, and if the astute Costello managed to get his mitts on the video, he'll have seen enough to know that this is far from a gimme.
Munster: Luke O'Dea; Ronan O'Mahony, Danny Barnes, Cian Bohane, Corey Hircock; Scott Deasy, Peter Stringer; Alan Cotter, Sean Henry capt, John Ryan; Ian Nagle, Dave Foley; Dave O'Callaghan, Barry O'Mahony, Tommy O'Donnell. Replacements: Duncan Casey, Christy Condon, Brian Hayes, Shane Buckley, Cathal Sheridan, Johnny Holland, Ivan Dineen.
Aberavon: John Phillips; Richartd Thomas, Ben John, Wil Price, Stefan Andrews; Jamie Davies, Joe Heatley; Rowan Jenkins, Ieuan Davies, Chris John; Rhydian Gierat, Gavin Ronan; Ben Thomas, Joe Tomalin Reeves, Morgan Allen. Replacements: Ricky Thomas, Craig Evans, Gareth Harvey, Lee Purnell, Darryl Thomas, Hywel Davies, Neil White.
