And Blues boss Phil Davies knows that even the absence of eight players who are away on international duty will not be tolerated as an excuse if his side, albeit with 11 changes, don’t produce the goods tonight.

“It was clear for all to see that last weekend's game against Leinster wasn't a very positive night for us.” Davies said of his side’s record defeat last weekend in Dublin and he promises that “supporters can look forward to a very competitive match, as it always is against Munster.”

Those supporters will be looking for a little bit more than their side being competitive tonight against a Munster side that also had to plan without all their internationals.  Well almost all.

The exception being the considerable one of Ronan O’Gara who’s back after a hamstring injury that he picked up against Racing Metro, and then missed out on the subsequent games.

He’s partnered at half back by Duncan Williams with Ian Keatley named at inside centre, an interesting move that gives Munster options off set piece scrums.

All in in all it’s a fairly callow Munster side with a new combination of Billy Holland and Dave Foley in the second row and a new look back row where Sean Dougall returns with Tommy O’Donnell at number 8.

And given the circumstances at the RDS last weekend it's safe to assume we’ll see a performance of atonement from Davies charges and that will make this a particularly daunting task for Munster.

Munster: F Jones; D Howlett capt, C Laulala, I Keatley, L O'Dea; R O'Gara, D Williams; M Horan, M Sherry, S Archer; D Foley, B Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, S Dougall, T O'Donnell. Replacements: D Varley, J Ryan, W du Preez, I Nagle, P Butler, P Stringer, D Barnes, J Murphy.

Cardiff Blues: D Fish; T Williams, G Evans, D Hewitt, T James; J Tovey, L Jones; C Ma’afu, R Williams, T Filise, L Reed, J Down, R Copeland, A Pretorius capt, J Navidi. Replacements: A Kyriacou, S Hobbs, R Harford, M Cook, L Hamilton, R Lewis, C Sweeney, Owen Williams