MUNSTER travel to the Stadio Comunale di Monigo to face Benetton tomorrow afternoon hoping to maintain their current positive form, as a victory this weekend would see them leapfrog their Italian rivals in the URC table.

After 12 games Munster are in seventh spot, with 32 points garnered, while opponents Benetton are a place ahead on 33.

It’s needless to say that, in terms of securing a play-off spot, Munster are very much dealing with a direct rival here, and that tomorrow’s fixture in Treviso is therefore extremely important to Munster’s season.

Last Sunday’s Heineken Champions Cup game against Toulouse will have garnered far more attention than this one from the casual fans, and generated much more headlines, but as we suggested in these pages last week, this game is actually more important in the grand scheme of things.

Come kick-off in Toulouse, Munster knew that a bonus-point victory would secure a home last-16 tie but that they were already guaranteed at least an away last 16 fixture thanks to results elsewhere falling their way.

That bonus-point victory was never really likely, however, so instead we were treated to a close Munster defeat — a moral victory if you will — where a lot of effort and resources were used up.

It was a great performance, for sure, and Munster may have won if Joey Carbery had brought his kicking boots, if the TMO had spotted the dangerous hit by Richie Arnold on Carbery or if Ben Healy had not been yellow-carded.

At that level of the game, it is all fine margins. 

But the point is, that not much would have been achieved if Munster had managed to sneak a victory — they would still have had to travel for their last 16 tie.

Add to that the fact that Munster’s eight Irish internationals are now in Ireland’s Six Nations camp and resources this weekend are extremely thin on the ground, especially in the areas of back row, second row and scrum-half.

Fineen Wycherley returned to training this week, after recovering from his shoulder injury.

Given Munster’s issues in the engine room he can expect to be thrown straight into the deep end this weekend, as quite simply, Munster have no available senior second rows bar the seemingly indefatigable Jean Kleyn.

MUNSTER (v Benetton):

S Daly; C Nash, A Frisch, M Fekitoa, L Coombes; J Carbery, P Patterson; J Wycherley, N Scannell (c), R Salanoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; J O’Sullivan, J Hodnett, A Kendellen.

Subs: D Barron, M Donnelly, S Archer, C Hurley, R Quinn, N Cronin, B Healy, R Scannell.

Under the circumstances, Cian Hurley will be hoping to see some action in Italy, with the 22-year-old west Cork native Hurley having impressed with his few all-action appearances to date.

The back row is one of the youngest that Munster have ever fielded, with just Jack O’Sullivan (24), John Hodnett (24), and Alex Kendellen (21) available from the senior squad, while 19-year-old Ruadhán Quinn is on the bench.

Carbery will, obviously, have been incredibly disappointed with missing out on Farrell’s Six Nations squad, but Graham Rowntree will be relieved to have at least one of his top three out-halves at his disposal for Munster’s preparations for this fixture at the HPC in Limerick this week. 

Healy will be available to play in Italy, but he will have spent most of the week with the Scottish Six Nations squad, which will not help in terms of his prep. Carbery will get the nod on that basis alone.

EXPANSIVE

While Munster are absent their eight internationals, spare a thought for Benetton head coach Marco Bortolami; he has lost 16 players to Kieran Crowley’s 34-man Italian Six Nations squad. This means that the team Munster will face this weekend is going to be predominantly made up of the large number of non-Italians on their books. Benetton like to play an expansive brand of rugby at the best of times, but minus their Italian internationals you would imagine that they might even be looser in their approach.

With both sides playing with various untested combinations tomorrow, structure will be of paramount importance, with the set-pieces likely to be messy affairs. You would imagine that whichever side can get a handle on their scrums and line-outs more effectively, will have gone a long way towards winning.