Munster's man on the ground this past fortnight is proud of the youngsters forced to make their senior Reds bow in the European cauldron tomorrow.
In the midst of the Covid crisis that has enveloped the province, Ian Costello has been cobbling together a squad these past two weeks in Limerick.
The man who returned from coaching at Wasps to take Munster's academy post has prepared a group of senior internationals led by Munster skipper Peter O'Mahony alongside a raft of under-21s, many of whom have yet to play for their province at senior level.
Five of them will get the chance from the off against Wasps in their Coventry home tomorrow, and three more are primed for action off the bench as Munster attempt to pull off another Miracle Match in this competition.
In all, there are eight members of Munster's academy included in the matchday 23 due to the unavailability of players who are quarantining at home and in Cape Town following the recent curtailed trip to South Africa.
Academy quartet Patrick Campbell - who starts at full-back - hooker Scott Buckley, centre Eoin O'Connor, back row Daniel Okeke and prop James French all feature from the start.
"Guys have really stepped up," said Costello. "The real test is always going to be on the pitch but from what we can see in training, a lot of guys that are having good seasons have really stepped up and they will get an opportunity.
“Some will go well, there will be others that will have gaps still to go in their game but we’ll definitely haven’t talked about it being their only opportunity.
"We’re very much trying to keep them level, keep them calm and focused on the process. I think emotion will look after itself on Sunday.
“We definitely want these guys to feel confident, feel the belief that when they go out we’ve got a really good squad and (we’re) confident that we can have a really good performance.
"That’s it. We haven’t moved beyond that.”
Ireland loosehead Dave Kilcoyne will have to marshall French and Buckley in the front row.
The Reds are boosted by the return of John Hodnett, who makes his first start in 13 months - and his debut in the competition - having missed the majority of last season with an achilles injury.
Even among the more senior contingent, there are first starts of the season for Conor Murray, Damian de Allende and Chris Farrell, who makes his 50th Munster appearance after returning from an abdomen injury.
De Allende and Farrell team up in the centres with Murray and Joey Carbery in the half-backs.
Tadhg Beirne starts alongside O’Connor in the second row as captain Peter O’Mahony, Hodnett and Okeke complete the side.
“It’s been great," said Costello.
"There's a lot to consider. There's a lot going on at the moment. There are exams happening, there is representative rugby and they’ve just parked everything at the moment.
"There has been massive internal cooperation from the clubs, from all the players, to make players available to us, to train with 15 on 15 in the last couple of weeks, which is massive.
"I cannot stress how encouraging that is for the lads that are here but also the support we’ve got from all the clubs that they’ve come from, because we’ve got to stay within a bubble and I just think we’re five or six sessions deep now, a lot of those guys have had a real opportunity to train with those internationals and I think that will have a massive effect down the line whether it inspires them on that gap that needs to be closed.
"And some of them are going to step on the field on Sunday. We’re going to have a blend of world-class players and emerging players. Yeah, it's really exciting and really positive."
Roman Salanoa is among the replacements having recovered from a knee injury with seven players in line to make their Munster debuts off the bench.
Summer addition Declan Moore and academy quartet Mark Donnelly, Ethan Coughlan, Tony Butler and Jonathan Wren are all included.
Also named are Cork Constitution’s John Forde, a product of PBC and member of the Provincial Talent Squad, and Young Munster’s Conor Moloney, a member of the National Talent Squad.
Moloney came up through the ranks at Ennis RFC in the same team as Coughlan and Butler with the trio lining out for the Ennis RFC U18s as recently as last year.
Munster : Patrick Campbell, Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Keith Earls, Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Scott Buckley, James French, Eoin O’Connor, Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony (C), John Hodnett, Daniel Okeke.
Replacements : Declan Moore, Mark Donnelly, Roman Salanoa, John Forde, Conor Moloney, Ethan Coughlan, Tony Butler, Jonathan Wren.
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