Wins yesterday for Glasgow Warriors and Ospreys leave Munster little margin for error when they take on Treviso in the Stadio di Monigo later this afternoon.
As things stand they need a bonus point win, and Scarlets to get nothing from their game earlier at the RDS, to move to fifth place, in what has become a four horse race for the two remaining play off places.
Two of those horses, Ospreys and Leinster have to visit Thomond Park in the coming weeks, so Munster need to take something home from their Italian venture, to leave themselves in place for the knock-outs.
No matter the time of year, Treviso are a formidable outfit here in Stadio di Monigo, two of their three defeats to date this season by just one point against league leaders Ulster and third placed Leinster. The other loss against second placed Glasgow Warriors.
And a brief glimpse of their Captains Run yesterday informed that they'll bring intensity, commitment and real ambition into this afternoon's clash.
Munster have it well within themselves to win this one but they know only too well that they need to be much more clinical and little more cutting than they were a week ago to do that.
They'll be aided in the first instance by the presence of James Coughlan and in the seond by the return of Felix Jones, James Downey and Casey Laulala.
But they do need to get to the pitch of the game early because if they don't, the longer it goes on the more the Italian will grow in confidence. Munster do not want to be going into the final stages chasing this game.
Munster: F Jones; D Hurley, C Laulala, J Downey, J Murphy; I Keatley, D Williams; W du Preez, M Sherry capt, S Archer; I Nagle, B Holland; P Butler, T O'Donnell, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Varley, J Ryan, BJ Botha, D Foley, CJ Stander, C Sheridan, JJ Hanrahan, I D
Treviso: B Williams; L Nitoglia, A Pratichetti, G La Grange, G Toniolatti; A Di Bernardo, F Semenzato; M Rizzo, G Maistri, J Roux, V Bernabo, C Van Zyl (c), D Budd, F Giusti, C Loamanu. Replacements: F Sbaraglini, M Muccignat, P Di Santo, M Fuser, M Filippucci, J Ambrosini, L Morisi, T Iannone.ineen.
Referee : N Paterson (SRU)