Wind blowing in Munster's favour - O'Sullivan

Home advantage against Leinster and Munster's more lightly raced players may tip the scales in their favour, according to Eddie O’Sullivan.

The sides meet for the first time in 11 months at Thomond Park on Saturday (7pm, live on RTÉ).

Leo Cullen’s side sit atop the United Rugby Championship, while Munster lie in third with five regular season games to go.

"It’s a hard one to call because I think Leinster will want to get some rhythm back into their game," former Ireland head coach O’Sullivan told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.

"They have been playing without pretty much without their [first] team throughout the Six Nations.

"Leinster might load up and they know going to Limerick that if they don’t load up properly and get their head in the game that they will get a good kicking.

"I think Munster will go out strong as well because a lot of the players that have been away have not been heavily invested in the Six Nations, they’ve been coming off the bench and don’t have a lot of miles on their clock over the last few weeks.

"It will be full on but I think Munster need the result a little more than Leinster at this point, that might tip it in their favour, at home in front of a big crowd."

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Watch Benetton v Connacht (Saturday 12pm), France v Ireland (Saturday 2.15pm) and Munster v Leinster (Saturday 7pm) live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player (also live on RTÉ Radio 1).