In each of the last three seasons, Munster have gone into the first of their URC meetings with Leinster already trying to make up lost ground.
Slow starts mixed with heavy injury tolls made for an unpleasant cocktail across the last few seasons, but the 2025/26 season has been different, so far.
Munster do have a couple of injuries more than they would like; Craig Casey looks unlikely to be cleared to return against Leinster this Saturday at Croke Park, while they have missed Alex Kendellen and John Hodnett's influence across the back row in last two games, but there’s no suggestion of an injury crisis.
The most important thing about their first three games was the result. Three games, three wins, two of those with a bonus-point, and the province are heading to Croke Park looking back down the URC table, rather than staring up.
Granted, the Scarlets, Cardiff and Edinburgh are sides Munster would expect to beat, but in recent seasons, those expectations have not always been met.
One of the main tenets Clayton McMillan preached in his first few weeks in charge has been about raising Munster’s floor rather than their ceiling.
More 7/10 performances every week will mean they don't have to go to the well as often later in the season.
"Three good wins, potentially not three of the best performances," is how John Ryan (above) describes Munster’s winning start to the season.
The Munster tighthead – along with Alex Nankivell – has worked with McMillan before, playing under the New Zealander during his season at the Chiefs in Super Rugby in 2023.
The head coach will get his first taste of the biggest rivalry in club rugby this Saturday evening at Croke Park.
Munster have only won one of their last nine meetings with Leinster, and they haven’t beaten them in a regular-season URC match since December 2018, but that doesn’t appear to be dampening the occasion.
Croke Park won't come near hitting the 80,000 attendance it had when these sides met 12 months ago, but with somewhere between 40-50,000 expected through the gates at GAA HQ, it merely suggests the Croker novelty has worn off rather than any disillusionment with the one-sided results.
On paper, a win against Leinster is worth the same as any other, but Ryan – who has only won three of his 20 previous games against their rivals – doesn’t agree.
"I'd be lying if I didn't say there was more stock being put into it [playing Leinster] as individuals. We really want to do well against Leinster, Ulster and Connacht, we measure ourselves against them as a team.
"Of course, they're the standard bearers in the country, but yeah, it's something that we really want to get right.
"We haven't been very consistent against them. We played really well the last two years against them up in Dublin and did not come away with the spoils.
"So we're looking to go up and put in a really good performance and hopefully continue the momentum we've started already for the season.
"As I say, it's kind of no different to any other game, but it is different. It sounds strange to say because obviously it is an interpro and it's up there in a pretty prestigious stadium.
"We want to topple them and take over like they have been doing for the last few years."
Ryan has been part of a constantly shuffling Munster team across the opening paragraph of the league. The new head coach has used 35 players in his first three games, giving as many players as possible a chance to stake their claim.
Having rested Jack Crowley for last Friday’s win against Edinburgh, and with Tadhg Beirne back on deck after the British and Irish Lions, we’re likely to get a sense of McMillan’s first choice team this weekend as they move up in class for the first big interpro of the year.
And after securing three wins from three to begin the campaign, it will be an acid test for Munster to see just how they match up against the defending champions.
"If you look at it, from an outside perspective, they have a very good squad and that's what we're trying to do," Ryan says.
"We've used 35 players the last few games so it's about building that squad and it doesn't matter who's the next man in, so that's probably what they [Leinster] have above everyone else is it's the next man in and there's not much change.
"So that's what we're trying to achieve now with the depth chart and just performing.
"Consistency of performances as well, that's what they've been very, very good at, and we're working on that too. That's a big topic in our meeting room."
Follow a live blog of Leinster v Munster in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday from 5.15pm on on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
