Magners League Grand Final

Munster v. Leinster (Sat 28th, Thomond Park, kick-off 5pm)

   

What a day we have in store on Saturday? The Magners League Final kicking off at 5pm which see's Munster take on newly crowned European champions and rivals, Leinster. As if that wasn't mouth watering enough, we then have the Champions League Final kicking off at 7.45, where 2 of Europes finest teams lock horns for what should a fantastic game. But you did not come here to listen to me rant on about Man Utd. and Barcelona and how I think that this time round United could in fact pull off a stunning win. Nope, you came here for the Rugby, so lets get started.

The teams haven't been named yet but having just heard that Leinster have no fresh injury worries after their monumental win on Saturday, both sides should field very strong teams. Assuming that, I'll now take a look at the key battles where the game can be won and lost.

Head to Head

Pack v. Pack

It's a long time since Munster came out on top in this battle against their rivals. Leinster have scrummaged extremely well this season while Munster have been second best. In the lineouts however Munster can look to gain a slight edge with the colossal O'Connell and O'Callaghan in the second row against the wiley Leo Cullen and Nathan Hines. Donnacha and Paulie are past masters in the line out and I'd expect them to get in and disrupt the Leinster line out on some occasions while it is unlikely that Leinster will do the same back to them. In the loose, Leinster win the battle. Their pack is rightfully the best in Europe and running with ball in hand they are dangerous animals. Cian Healey, Ricard Strauss, Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip are the names I expect to see doing some damage with Kevin McLaughlin to come off the bench and do more of the same, assuming he doesn't start in place of Shane Jennings.

Battle of the 10's

According to reports, Johnny Sexton lead the team talk at half time in Cardiff. Not only that but he came out and backed up what he said with a personal tally of 22 points in the second half (28 all together). Man of the Match was a bit of an understatement as he dragged Leinster back from the dead with one hand and buried Northampton with the other. Alot has come to light since Saturday about Sexton, he also had a hand in bringing Joe Schmidt to Leinster when he apparently met him along with team captain Leo Cullen. Sexton assured Schmidt that he was needed at Leinster and that he had no need to worry about keeping the boys motivated and on the straight and narrow as they would do that themselves. These were worries that Schmidt had, due to his lack of head coaching experience but according to Schmidt they were put to bed that day when he met Johnny and Leo. Where am I going with this? Well the point of it is, that Johnny Sexton has just took a massive leap from potential to proven it would seem with Joe Schmidt even comparing him to Dan Carter today in the papers. Lets not get too carried away though and remain grounded, as good a game as he had at the weekend, he is still only following in the foot steps of O'Gara. When Sexton drops a goal for Ireland to win a grand slam, then and only then, will we decide who is better. For now, lets just enjoy the luxury of having to amazing outhalves playing for Ireland. RO'G will be keen to have a good game on Saturday though, just to remind people of his presence within Irish Rugby. There is a strong rivalry between the 2 boys but you can rest assured O'Gara was probably the first to congratulate Sexton last weekend. For this saturday though, I'm backing O'Gara to have the better game. He knows every blade of grass in Thomond Park and he'll find it easier to put the ball in behind the leinster back 3 than Johnny will to put it in behind the Munster back 3. Which leads me to my next area of discussion.......

The back 3's

While the tide seems to have turned in the battle of the front 8 in the last number of years with Leinster getting the better of Munster, I think the opposite has happened with the back 3. Thankfully this season, McGahan has gained sense and switched Earls from outside centre to wing. He has also made room for the recovered Felix Jones at fullback with Doug Howlett completing the back three combo. They've got pace to burn and I expect to see them counter attack well. On the flipside, Leinster have got Isa Nacewa at fullback who has been outstanding in his field (just like the award winning farmer). On the wings they've got most likely Shane Horgan who is fairly predictable at this stage and Luke Fitzgerald who continues to have one of his poorest seasons yet. Don't get me wrong, I love Luke Fitzgerald, but he hasn't impressed for a long time this season and Saturday will be no different and on that note, why the hell do they persist on leaving Fergus McFadden on the bench? Personally I'd have a back 3 of McFadden, Nacewa and Fitzgerald. 

So where does that leave us then?

Paddy Power have made Leinster favourites by the slightest of margins and to be fair to Mr. Power he rarely gets it wrong. I think though that after the whirlwind week that Leinster will have had, Munster will be waiting patiently in the long grass for their chance to strike. They sat top of the Magners table for a long part of the season and had secured a home semi with a few games to go. Leinster meanwhile had to fight for their home semi final as well as concentrate on the Heineken Cup. I just think its the end of a long and epic campaign for Leinster at this stage and should they win it will go down as their best ever. They are a battle hardened team, but Munsters green eyed monster should emerge on Saturday when they see the reigning European champs roll into Thomond Park on their high horse. Its going to be a hard physical game of rugby and I think the men in Red will be the most able for it on Saturday. Enjoy it anyway and the football afterwards, Reds all the way in both.

RT Prediction: Munster