Among the nine changes Clayton McMillan made to his Munster side for Saturday's win against Gloucester, the head coach performed some surgery on the back three, which had been badly exposed by Bath’s kicking game at The Rec.
Out went wingers Diarmuid Kilgallen and Thaakir Abrahams, while last week’s full-back, Shane Daly, moved back to his preferred wing spot.
Mike Haley came into the 15 shirt, while there was a surprise selection for Ben O’Connor on the left wing.
The 21-year-old had previously played 12 times for Munster so his presence in the side wasn’t a major shock, but with all of his previous rugby for the province and Ireland Under-20s coming at full-back, his selection on the left wing did feel like a bold call from the Munster coaching staff.
With the way rugby is going, we may see more of him out wide this season.
Munster were badly exposed in the wide kicking channels last week in Bath, and McMillan’s changes worked well in a kick-heavy game at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night, where his backfield ensured his side controlled the kicking game, safe under the high ball from Gloucester’s kicks, while competing and disrupting on their own efforts.
"Perhaps off the back of last week, the combination of the conditions and the wind and the way that they play, we knew that there would be a bit of aerial bombardment and so, we just made a tactical decision to go with the guys that got selected and I think they all did a sterling job," the Munster coach said after the 31-3 win.
"We played Gloucester in pre-season. I remember thinking in the first 30 minutes, where there had been about 35 box kicks, 'what the hell have I got myself in for?'
"It was the first game that I'd actually been involved in.
"They're an ambitious team, they want to throw the ball around but they're actually pretty good at the contestable kicking game."
For O’Connor (below), it would have been a particularly special day.
As an All-Ireland minor and U20 winner with the Cork hurlers, O’Connor would have been more than familiar with Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and he was one of the few Munster players who performed consistently across the 80 minutes.
"I was really happy for him," McMillan said.
"He's one of those young kids that sort of has been just doing everything that he can at training and continuously putting his hand up for selection.
"And the last six, seven weeks he had to deal with a bit of disappointment, but it was great to be able to reward all of his effort today with an opportunity and out on a ground that he would be well familiar with.
"And I thought he did an awesome job. You know, he didn't make any errors, he looked for work, accurate under the high ball, so he'd be really proud of his effort."
With the opening European block now behind them, Munster travel to the Ospreys this Saturday in the BKT United Rugby Championship, before a run of back-to-back Christmas Interpros leading into their second Champions Cup slate against Toulon and Castres.
And having picked his first choice side for each of the last three weeks against Stormers, Bath and Gloucester, McMillan (below) admits some of his frontline players are likely to be rested ahead of this week’s trip to Bridgend.
"The internationals are going to have to have a break over the next couple of weeks," he said.
"I'd probably get my head cut off if I decided that week was going to be the Leinster week, so there'll be a few that will miss out next week.
"There's a few guys that I think put their hand up today that will make their selection easy but we select a team each week that we think has the capacity to go and win the game, and sometimes that'll mean very little changes, sometimes that will mean more than you would normally see.
"So definitely in a 10-game stretch, fourth game in, [there will be] some strategic thinking into who's going to play next week.
"There are some big fixtures ahead of us, but it's really important that we just focus on the one that's directly in front of us, and that's the Ospreys.
"So, they are a team that's been steadily getting a few bodies back in and they've had some good results over the last couple of weeks.
"They will have our full respect, and that's the challenge, to go away from home when you don't have 35,000 people supporting for you, and go over the ditch and perform and get a job done there.
"It won't be easy, so just a full, honest week of preparation."
