Denis Leamy: 'There's an expectation that comes with Munster'

Even accounting for the off-season, it's been a longer than usual gap between games at Thomond Park for Munster.

Having had to rearrange the schedule late last season due to Ed Sheeran's Limerick dates, and their early-season fixture list which saw three away games and one at Musgrave Park, Saturday's visit of the Bulls will fall just one day shy of the six-month mark since they last togged out at Thomond.

Incredibly, the Champions Cup last-16 second leg against Exeter Chiefs was the last time they played a game in Limerick, the stadium getting a bit of a makeover in the six months since with a new hybrid pitch.

They return to Thomond with a cloud hanging over them. Most people would have allowed a bedding-in process for the new coaching team, but very few would have anticipated the province losing three of their first four games in the BKT United Rugby Championship.

There's real pressure on them to perform, but there's even more pressure on them to just start winning games, and Denis Leamy says he's well aware that they're not meeting the required standards.

"I understand if a club like Munster - and it is a big club, a big European club - there is always going to be pressure," Leamy says.

"There is always going to be expectation. We knew that when we took the job, we knew that we played in the jersey, there is an expectation that comes with Munster that is huge and we know the standards that are required."

And having returned to the province in the summer from a stint working with Leinster, the province's former back row says he sees the importance of Munster's results to the supporters on a daily basis.

"I was at a senior rugby match between Cashel and UL Bohs on Saturday and I bumped into loads of grassroots rugby people and