Munster aim to finish what they start in South Africa

It's hard to know exactly what to make of Munster this season.

They had a lot of dirty diesel to work out of their system after how last season finished, an incredibly disappointing home loss to Glasgow in the URC semi-final.

It’s a defeat that happened four months ago but was brought up at attack coach Mike Prendergast’s presentation to the team on Tuesday, echoing, he reckoned, Saturday's loss to Leinster.

While they began with a dramatic win over Connacht, the sense after that game was that the visitors to Thomond blew it and Munster could have easily lost.

A first ever reverse to Zebre was a shock to the system, which led to severe criticism from Munster legend Donncha O’Callaghan, with defence coach Denis Leamy unable to disagree with anything his former team-mate said.

"I wouldn't pay too much attention to outside noise and I think that's the same with everyone in the squad," Tom Ahern, the versatile forward, who made his first appearance of the season in last Saturday’s 26-12 loss, said of the comments.

"Look, we are a kinda cohesive unit and we only listen to people that's inside the building and we kinda block out the noise from outside."

The injured list lengthened after the Parma game with the players dropping like flies and the subsequent bounce-back win over Ospreys in horrendous conditions in Cork came at the cost of injuries to Peter O’Mahony - how they would have loved him in Croke Park – and Oli Jager; it was bulk and nous they could have done with for that clash.

But the difference between the sides was stark, in reality: Munster’s inability to convert nine line breaks (to Leinster’s 4), 27 defenders beaten (to 14) and 14 offloads (to 5) into more than two tries cost them dearly.

"The reaction can be about just