Munster know using squad is 'critical' in close opening Champions Cup rounds

Munster’s bid to add a third star to the jersey by repeating the heroics of 2006 and 2008 were sunk almost from the off, missing out on a home draw for the knockout stages in both seasons and suffering the consequences as a result with Round of 16 exits on the road to the Sharks in 2023 and Northampton Saints last April.

Which is why Costello and his new look and temporary coaching ticket are not looking beyond this round one reunion with their Parisian old foes when it comes to setting realistic targets for the 2024-25 Champions Cup campaign.

It has been a week of further reverberations from the October 29 exit of head coach Graham Rowntree and the subsequent departure of forwards coach Andi Kyriacou as former Saints director of rugby Chris Boyd arrived from New Zealand as Performance Consultant and forward coach consultant Alex Codling eased into his role on loan from the Ireland Women’s team. 

So while Costello spoke of his satisfaction that the “tweaks” to Munster’s working and training practices made ahead of last Saturday’s winning return to URC action against the Lions had already borne fruit and would be ongoing, he urged a steely-eyed focus on this Stade Francais clash and not what lies ahead of it.

“Winning the home game seems to be the critical part, and I think it's really important for us going forward anyway in terms of the mindset of people coming to Thomond Park,” Costello said.

“We just have to be so focused on what's happening now and staying present in managing that change, managing that transition, creating the foundation which we can build. It's not built, but we're building it nicely and we're finding that rhythm around it, and Saturday was a bit of validation, but we know that it's an even bigger challenge this Saturday at home to start.

“Win our first game at home would be the priority, because if you win your home games you've got a decent chance, don't you?

“We're trying not to look beyond it. The only difference this time is we have a six-day turnaround on the travel (to Castres away on December 13), so using our squad is critical.

“Even around our selection this week, it's how do we have the best 23 Saturday and then the best 23 (next week), and it might not be the same 23. And for the first time for a while, we actually have those decisions to make.

“We named our team (on Tuesday) morning, there's people genuinely gutted, that feel they should be in our 23 and they're right, you know?

“So it's one game at a time, but we are looking at the squad across the first two games.”

Costello will welcome back Ireland stars Calvin Nash, Jack Crowley, Craig Casey and Peter O’Mahony to the starting line-up with Tadhg Beirne among the replacements but a sixth current international, scrum-half Conor Murray, misses out due to a knock.

The international quartet are joined by a fifth new face from the team which kicked off the 17-10 URC win over the Lions in Limerick last Saturday, with Shane Daly the other.

Daly returned from injury to score a try as a replacement against the Lions and will start at full-back on his 100th Munster appearance, replacing regular starter Mike Haley, who had been removed as a precaution last Saturday having passed all Head Injury Assessment tests.

With club captain Beirne part of a bench containing six forwards and two backs, hooker Diarmuid Barron retains the captaincy from last week to lead Munster in the Champions Cup for the first time.

In the forward pack, there is a Champions Cup debut for academy lock Evan O’Connell, who starts alongside Fineen Wycherley in an unchanged second row while short-term signing Dian Bleuler continues at loosehead and joins summer signings Farrell and Abrahams in making a first Champions Cup appearance for Munster.

Bleuler is part of an unchanged front row alongside Barron and John Ryan while former captain Peter O’Mahony begins his final European campaign with a return at blindside flanker in a back row also featuring Alex Kendellen on the openside and Gavin Coombes at No.8 as Jack O’Donoghue moves to the bench as the extra back-five forward to complement Beirne and John Hodnett.

Costello saw last weekend’s league opponents as good preparation for a similarly-armed Stade Francais side.

“One thing that helps is they're very like the Lions in terms of their identity. They're lethal on transition again, so we had the Lions scoring almost half of their tries from transition. Stade are right on half of their tries, and that's an unbelievable stat. They've just got very, very dangerous back three players. As soon as you turn over the ball, as soon as you kick loosely there, they come to life.

“So I think from our point of view we'll try to keep the ball in play, but we'll try kicking on our terms, we'll try to manage the tempo of the game, keep it as fast as we can, but with an element of control and if you don't, they hurt you and like any French pack, they love to bring you into set-piece battles as well.

“So they can go set-piece battle or they can come to life around transition.” 

It is a potentially stiff challenge which belies Stade’s current 12th-place position in the Top 14, just as Munster believe they are better than their 11th raking in the URC table, and it is a match in which Costello will need a performance to vindicate that belief.

MUNSTER: S Daly; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, T Abrahams; J Crowley, C Casey; D Bleuler, D Barron - captain, J Ryan; E O’Connell, F Wycherley; P O’Mahony, A Kendellen, G Coombes.

Replacements: N Scannell, K Ryan, S Archer, T Beirne, J Hodnett, P Patterson, B Burns, J O’Donoghue.

STADE FRANCAIS: J Jonas; C Laloi, J Marchant, P Boudehent, S Ezeala; Z Henry, T Motassi; C Castets, L Peyresblanques, F Gomez Kodela; P-H Azagoh, B Pesenti; P Huguet, R Chapuis – captain, Y Tanga.

Replacements: L Petriashvili, M Alo-Emile, P Alo-Emile, S Turagacoke, A Timo, J Martin Scelzo, L Foursans-Bourdette, L Carbonel Referee: Luke Pearce (England)