As most of the country tucked into their Christmas dinner, Munster and Leinster players opted for the stricter higher carbohydrate and lower fat approach to their celebrations as part of their match day preparations.
Munster host Leinster at Thomond Park this evening with the game kicking off at 7.35pm.
Interestingly, Graham Rowntree's side have lost just once at home since this time last year, defeated by Glasgow in March.
Leinster's only loss this season has also come in a high-scoring defeat against Glasgow. A win would see Leinster knock Glasgow out of the top spot in the URC table.
After two successful opening rounds in the Investec Champions Cup, Leinster are brimming with confidence, with evidence of change to their defensive structures which will make them a hugely difficult prospect in Thomond Park.
Munster had opposing fortunes in Europe, a disappointing and rudderless draw against Bayonne, followed by an away loss to Exeter Chiefs, after controlling large parts of the game. They need to win, and win well if they want to climb the table back towards third place and jump Ulster, Bulls and Benetton.
Jacques Nienaber has already hit the ground running in terms of making Leinster a much more blunt object in defence. He is beginning to mould this team into championship winners, starting with their defence.
The blunting of their mechanism is the final layer really. Leinster’s defensive system has always worked well and been well thought through. However, Nienaber, through skill and the application of players, has a personable way of simplifying matters in defence.
It's a kill or be killed type of moment. It’s him or you and it better not be him. Backed by a collective understanding of the system, and his personal pledge that should it go wrong, on his head may it be. His aim is to disrupt the opposition at source, slow down their ball, to make it an even contest and then draw a line in the sand to see who is more dominant on the tackle line.
Leinster have always been sharp in their strategies, but Nienaber is giving them a licence to go after opposition teams in a more confrontational manner.
Munster had the perfect preparation for this game in everything but the result. They took on Exeter last week, who lead a similar high line in defence, leaving the last attacker free in a dare to get the ball to them.
They put so much pressure on the inside attackers that you should have trouble finding the mechanism by which you can get the ball to the edges while still being in control of your attack. And if you do get the ball to the edge, they’ll scramble hard enough to catch you high up the pitch anyway.
However, Munster had the strategy and execution for that. Crowley, Nankivell and Frisch retain their starting berths for the clash with Leinster. All three were key to breaking down the Exeter defence.
Crowley did most of his damage from the boot, with clever cross-field kick passes and vision. One of those moments resulted in a canter to the try line for rejuvenated blindside flanker Tom Ahern.
Ahern is selected in the number 6 jersey yet again, despite the injury crisis at second-row for Munster. This is because of Ahern’s athletic ability in the wider channels, where Munster deploy their blindside flanker. Maybe it’s a sign of how they’re looking to play the game tonight.
Gavin Coombes will continue his second-row role alongside the returning colossus, Edwin Edogbo, with Tadhg Beirne taking a well-deserved break.
In a further bid to bridge the gap from Crowley to the wide channels, Nankivell and Frisch both had excellent kicking and passing moments to relieve the midfield congestion and move the ball to more open space. However, when the opportunity arises, they have the ability to use their footwork and handling at the tackle line to beat the onrushing defence and then play in behind.
"It leaves you wondering if Leinster know what the plan for Frawley really is, having lined out at full-back recently too."
Ciarán Frawley returns to inside centre for Leinster. He has shown well at out-half in recent weeks. He didn’t set the world alight against Sale at the RDS last time out but he did enough to be backed by his coaches, if the overall plan was to keep him as an out-half. Instead, he will line out at inside centre, a position that will no doubt be dominated by Robbie Henshaw, or the impactful Charlie Ngatai.
It leaves you wondering if Leinster know what the plan for Frawley really is, having lined out at full-back recently, too. He has played a lot of his rugby in positions where you know others will start in the crunch matches.
Out-half is the position that’s more up for debate and yet Leo Cullen has clearly favoured both the Byrne brothers, with Harry Byrne reinstated after his recent head injury.
James Ryan was afforded a Christmas break following his recent dominant performances, which gives Garry Ringrose the opportunity to captain Leinster without any distractions. The co-captaincy has been a talking point in the last number of weeks. Both players took up the on-field captaincy role in the European games, with some interesting referee interactions.
The hosts have bolstered their front row with the return of David Kilcoyne to the starting team and Oli Jager will take on the challenge of containing Andrew Porter. The set-piece always goes a long way towards settling a game with high stakes, Munster will need parity in the scrum as a minimum if they want to turn Leinster over in their own patch.
It was Munster that raced into the lead in their recent game at the Aviva, with a scintillating try, finished by Craig Casey. Simon Zebo stepped inside the Leinster defence to create the try, but Leinster got back into the game with a defensive turnover and breakaway try by Jamison Gibson-Park.
Leinster’s maul caused some damage back in November as well, before Jordan Larmour put the finishing touches on their performance with a try in the right corner on 65 minutes.
Munster know they have the tools to beat Leinster, following their semi-final win in the URC last year. To win in Thomond Park this time round will revitalise their season at a time when they need to push on if they want to back up their Championship win.
That win has kept this fixture alive and although there’s been some necessary selection rotation, there’ll be two strong sides going at it with plenty of interprovincial bite.
Watch Munster v Leinster in the URC on St Stephen's Day from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
