Mike Prendergast believes a win against Leinster on St Stephen's Day would be a groundbreaking moment for Munster in their season of transition.
It's just over two months since their last derby meeting, with Leinster 27-13 winners at the Aviva Stadium on that occasion, Munster's fourth defeat in their opening six games of the season in the BKT United Rugby Championship.
While the Munster performance on that occasion was dogged - given their injury crisis - they were still in the process of getting used to their new gameplan under their new coaching ticket, and were some distance off the quality of Leinster.
But they've looked a far more cohesive side since the November break, winning four of their last five, and picking up a losing bonus-point against Toulouse in the opening round of the Heineken Champions Cup.
And Prendergast says his team have made significant strides in the last two months.
"I think we have all [changed]," he said. "As we alluded to as a coaching staff from the start, it was always going to take a bit of time. We are still on that journey. Week on week, month on month, we have improved in different domains, parts of our game.
"I think defensively we showed that last week, especially in the second-half. In the first-half there were good in aspects of our attack and areas around our ruck are improving as well and our decision-making around that.
"So you look back to that game [v Leinster], there was a couple of clips that we brought up from it, and even in terms of how we moved, we were still getting used to how we trained, training quicker, training in smaller teams with quicker game-based stuff.
"When you look at that now, two months ago to now, our ability to move quicker on both sides of the ball is something that’s coming through."
The Christmas meeting of Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park has been a staple of the Irish rugby calendar for some time, but it's three years since the sides have been able to renew their rivalry on St Stephen's Day, with Covid-19 seeing the 2020 and 2021 games postponed.
Combined with Munster's good recent form, the Limerick ground is set to be at capacity for the Interpro on Monday, and Prendergast says these are the weeks the he came home from Paris to experience.
"Obviously we have had a decent enough two weeks. A good performance against Toulouse, obviously came up short in terms of the results, but performance-wise I thought we showed a lot of good aspects of our game against a good European Cup side, and last weekend [v Northampton] was a good victory in different circumstances maybe.
"But we showed grit and a huge desire to keep them out and it was a kind of workmanlike, I suppose, victory. It was a different type of victory but a very good one.
"And then obviously you lead into this, into Leinster this week, a huge game and you test yourself against the best. They have showed that over the couple few years and even more so this year.
"They have probably added even a small bit more to their game in terms of their attack shape, and in terms of their maul and it's something we have to be well prepared for.
"But in terms of the occasion and everything, having crowds back, 26,000 people filling Thomond Park... yeah, we are really looking forward to it and we have spoken about that all week," he added.
In recent seasons Leinster have dominated this fixture, winning nine of their last 10 meetings, the only Munster victory coming in a Rainbow Cup fixture in 2021.
Crucially, Munster have been beaten by Leo Cullen's side three times in a row at Thomond Park, with their last derby win at Thomond coming in a fiery 26-17 win in December 2018.
And with the province still growing into themselves in this season of transition, Prendergast says a repeat result on Monday would be enormous for the belief in the squad.
"It would be huge. We feel like we have moved forward over the last... I think kind of since the Bulls game there has been aspects of our game, parts of our game that have moved on week by week and I think if we were to finish off the year by beating Europe’s top team it would be a massive, massive win for us, for confidence wise and just moving forward. It would be huge."
John Hodnett is a doubt for Monday's game, having picked up a minor thigh injury in Sunday's Champions Cup win against Northampton.
In better news, Simon Zebo, Jack O'Sullivan and Stephen Archer have all returned to full training after their recent injury layoffs, and are in contention to return to the side.
Listen to live commentary of Munster v Leinster (26 December, 7.35pm) and Connacht v Ulster (23 December, 7.35pm) on RTÉ Radio 1, or follow our live blogs on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
Watch live coverage of Connacht v Ulster on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
