Munster have "no room for error" if they are to claim the Guinness Pro12 title on Saturday, according to Eddie O’Sullivan.
Rassie Erasmus’s side face Scarlets, who became the first team to win an away semi-final when they dispatched a sloppy Leinster in last Friday’s RDS clash, in the Aviva (6.15pm, live on RTÉ Radio 1, live blog on RTE.ie and the News Now App).
The Reds will go into the tie as favourites but the former Ireland boss has warned that the Welsh visitors won’t be coming along to make up the numbers.
"Scarlets can live off scraps. They had only 30-odd per cent of possession last week and they outplayed Leinster," O’Sullivan, who has just been confirmed as the new coach of Old Belvedere, told the RTÉ Sport Rugby podcast.
"Scarlets are the kind of team that can turn a half chance into seven points.
"They don’t need a lot of opportunities to hurt you and I think Munster will have to be on their ‘A’ game in terms of choking the life out of them and not giving them any half chances.
"They are in a great run of form, the love the underdogs tag, they love coming to Dublin.
"They’ll keep it nice and quiet and they’ll play themselves down with the belief that if they get three or four opportunities in the game, and they’re accurate it could be enough to get them across the line."
However, O'Sullivan still reckons that Munster have progressed well under their new coach and should prevail.
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"The Munster game that has got them to this stage is a very Munster style of rugby and it’s produced by a very South African style coach," he added.
"The logistics of how they play the game aren’t too different, it’s very aggressive, very in your face, lots of one-off runners, and if they are successful in winning collisions on both sides of the ball, they just choke you out of the game.
"We are all smart enough to say that’s not going to win you a European championship. We saw how they struggled against Saracens, who were well able to cope with Munster’s physicality [in the Champions Cup semi-final loss].
"Teams throughout the whole Pro12 have struggled with Munster and they have this reputation - when they get into your 22, they don’t leave without scoring – and I think that will be their mantra. They will try to choke the life out of Scarlets.
"I think [Scarlets] know if they go toe-to-toe with Munster in terms of physicality, they’re going to be in trouble.
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"They’ll know they’ll have to box very clever but they won’t have to land many counter-punches to win the game. Three of four chances could do it for them. They’ll be quietly confident.
"There’s an expectation that Munster, because the way their season has gone, it’s almost their destiny to win this.
"The whole emotion around Anthony Foley’s passing. That will be all fed into Saturday but this Scarlets team won’t care a whit about that. They are there on a mission as well. They’ll see this as a golden opportunity.
"Munster will know what Scarlets' plan will be. I’m still banking on Munster to get it done...but they’ve no room for error."
