Warriors' opponents will Munster up a noisy reception

Oct 3 2008 By Fraser Wilson

sean lineen

SEAN Lineen has warned his Warriors troops they will face a wall of noise when they square up to European champions Munster on Saturday.

Lineen has named a largely unchanged side from last week's victory over Scarlets for the trip to Limerick for what will be the first Magners League match to take place at the redeveloped Thomond Park.

The boss has just tinkered with last week's side replacing the injured Dan Parks with Colin Gregor while squad rotation sees Graeme Morrison make way for Andrew Henderson at inside-centre.

And he has warned his troops they better be prepared for a capacity 25,000 crowd which will raise the Thomond Park roof.

Lineen said: “It’s always interesting to see how both sets of players and the referee react when the crowd get the noise levels up – it’s going to be a full house, it’s going to be unbelievably noisy, so they have got to make sure they’re switched on.

“If Munster get some momentum they are very difficult to beat, they have quality players and they are very strong so we have to make sure we look after the ball, tackle hard and make sure we’re not intimidated.

“Contact is going to be a big area for us. They had a game against Leinster on Sunday that was a real gladiatorial battle and Munster finally wore them down in about the 74th minute.

“We’ve got to go right to the end, right to the final whistle, and we’ve got to front up.”

Despite the omission of Parks and Morrison, Lineen is happy with the shape of his squad.

He said: “Andrew’s an international 12 and is champing at the bit to play, I’d be a fool not to rotate the squad and give the guy a chance.

“Graeme played very well against the Scarlets last week and now it’s up to Andy to show us what he’s got; and what better place to do it – he’s played in front of big crowds before so it’s a chance for him to make his mark on the game”, said Lineen.

“Dan could play if we were really desperate but we have options that allow us to leave him out. Colin Gregor’s done well against Munster in the past, he’s a skilled footballer and I like the way he plays.

“If he gets the support from the players around him and he manages to make good decisions under real pressure then I think he could have a cracking game.”