It pretty much goes without saying that Munster in Thomond Park is a huge match. We’re desperate to win all of our remaining games in the Pro12 and finish on top of the pile so we get a home Semi Final but we’re fully aware of the threat that Munster poses in Limerick. It’s a great place to play rugby and they’ve had such a strong season to date so I’m expecting a frantic 80 minutes of non-stop action and hopefully a win to take back to Dublin. They’re the champions and we want their title. Winning on Saturday will set us up nicely for what we hope will be two more months of must-win matches.  It was a bit frustrating watching the lads come up short last weekend against the Ospreys, although having Brian and Leo back in the swing of things – not to mention Brad Thorn’s fist outing for the team – is a huge boost for the squad as we enter this crucial phase of matches.

I love this time of year!

We were clinical and very accurate in the first half against France and were well worth our 11 point lead at half time. Much has been written and said about our high penalty count, particularly in the second half, and like most others I feel we were harshly dealt with. That said, France took their own chances and we have to move on and not dwell on one that got away.  We’re playing good stuff and not many teams can stay with us when we hit form.

The six day turnaround was always going to be tough and it’s been made even more so now with injuries depriving us of Paulie and Conor Murray. Paulie has been playing great rugby and his leadership will be missed but Bestie’s an inspirational guy and it’s up to all of us to front up for the next two weeks and round the campaign off with two wins. We’ll also miss Conor but Reddser’s a class player who won’t weaken the side in any way.  Hopefully the two boys won’t be out of action for long.

Good news for all at Leinster this week with the confirmation of Brad Thorn’s arrival for the rest of the season. He’s a seriously impressive competitor with a crazy track record of success. Looking forward to getting into the trenches with him!

Having an eight day turnaround should help us this weekend; there were a few bruised bodies around Carton House this week. We’ll go to Stade de France as underdogs which is something that doesn’t really bother me. We were heavy underdogs against Australia at the World Cup and turned them over so there’s no reason why we can’t take France down on Sunday if we perform to our capabilities.

We travel over today and it’s always pretty cool being able to wander along the Champs Elysees at this time of year! Thankfully the forecast is better than our last trip over so no need for the longjohns and gloves!  I still expect a fair splattering of green at the match, despite the obvious disappointment of two weeks ago. Irish fans never cease to amaze me in their capacity to find ways of supporting the national team. Rest assured we’ll be doing our very best to give them something to celebrate on Sunday.

Seems like an eternity since we played our first (and only) match so far in this year’s Six Nations so as you can imagine there’s a fair degree of excitement about Saturday’s match. Training has been going really well – fellas are straining at the leash to get the green jersey on and get our campaign back on track.

The  postponement of the French match meant we had a bit more free time in the last couple of weeks so I was able to get Bear Restaurant (a venture that I’m involved with) on South William Street off the ground. It’s a project that I’m excited about although I’ll have to keep the free-loaders on the Irish team away for the first couple of months!

I always enjoy playing against Italy. We clicked against them at the World Cup and put them away well but they gave us a hell of a game last year in Rome and they probably should have beaten England last time out so we know we need to up our game to get the win on the board on Saturday. Coming up against top class Number 8’s is a challenge I’ve always relished and Sergio Parisse is not only one of the very best Number 8’s in the world, in my opinion he’s also one of the best rugby players playing today. Just thinking about that contest gets the excitement going. Bring it on!

While I’m hopeful that we’ll have a big Irish following at the re-scheduled match I’m also fully aware that the reality is that the added expense is likely to restrict the numbers that can actually travel. This is completely understandable but it’s such a shame for such committed supporters to lose out financially as a result of Saturday’s postponement

This a pretty big year for Leinster and Irish rugby and hopefully this website will keep you up to date with what’s going on the Leinster and Ireland camps as we challenge for honours in Europe and beyond.

I’ll be posting regular updates on the Guinness Rugby Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/GuinnessRugbyIreland), so make sure to check it out.

Look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Laters!

Jamie