Munster’s Chris Farrell expects a ‘real arm-wrestle’ of a battle between his side and Edinburgh on Saturday, but he believes that Munster’s returning Irish players can give them an edge.
The Irish province travel to Murrayfield to take on Edinburgh in the quarter-final of the Champions Cup in Saturday's early match.
Edinburgh have lost at home just once all season and they also finished top of a pool containing Montpellier, Toulon and Newcastle.
Farrell believes the two sides are very evenly matched and he sees a lot of similarities between Munster and the Scottish outfit.
"They’ve been exceptional," he told RTÉ Sport of Edinburgh. "To come through that group with the two French giants Toulon and Montpellier, you have be a quality team defensively and they’ve got some really physical players now, they’ve got an edge to them.
"You speak about us being resilient but that’s the one word I’d probably use on them.
"Over the last couple of years they’ve built really well, they’ve got some quality physical players, the back row is hugely confrontational and that’s going to be a real challenge this weekend.
"They’ve only lost once at Murrayfield this season and their set-pieces are exceptional, the scrum battle is going to be fascinating, but let’s hope there’s some rugby played as well.
"It’s going to be a real arm wrestle, it’s going to be exciting for the fans and for us and it’s one of those games that is why we play rugby."
Munster come into the game off the back of a defeat to Scarlets and tricky win over Zebre last week but they welcome back some of their highest profile players with the likes of Conor Murray, Joey Carbery, Keith Earls and Peter O’Mahony all starting.
The return of the Irish internationals has led to an air of excitement around the team and Farrell expects them to deliver on Saturday.
"The guys that are coming back in are hugely experienced," he said. "We’ve got Conor Murray, Keith Earls and Peter O’Mahony coming back in, they’ve been doing it for the last ten years and slotting in seamlessly.
"I expect nothing different from them, they’re going to fit in perfectly. Just the buzz of having those leaders around again creates a huge amount of excitement because there’s a little bit more expectation when they’re around.
"Whenever the leaders are away it’s a good chance for everybody else, for the wider squad to grab it by the collar and take a bit of responsibility on themselves and they’ve done that.
"I was in last week and before those lads got back in the place was buzzing even for the Zebre game, but those guys really drive the standards around here."
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