TOMORROW IN TOULON Ben O’Connor heads into one of the biggest tests of his young career.

Munster have heavily rotated their team for the Sunday afternoon kick-off at the Stade Mayol [KO 1pm, Premier Sports], and while most of those changes would have been expected – Clayton McMillan recalling a number of frontline players who sat out the URC loss to Ulster – O’Connor’s inclusion caught the eye.

The former Cork U20 hurler hasn’t had much time in the Munster shirt this season, but this weekend he starts in a massive Champions Cup away game as the province look to keep their European hopes alive. 

Last month, McMillan’s side were well beaten in their Champions Cup opener away to Bath, before winning at home to an understrength Gloucester in Cork. O’Connor was one of their star performers that day, but it wasn’t the true full-blooded, high intensity Champions Cup experience. This will be more like the real thing, and having been been on AIL duty with UCC this time last month, O’Connor has been handed a chance to impress against a star-studded Toulon side who have ambitions of going all the way in the competition.

Powerful, pacey, with a good boot and strong aerial game, it’s not hard to see what McMillan feels he can offer against the Top 14 side.

“I think he had a great game that day (v Gloucester),” McMillan said. “He picked up an ankle injury early on, he soldiered through the whole game. 

O'Connor was excellent against Gloucester last month. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

“He was pretty error-free, he was sound defensively, he was particularly good under the high ball, and if that injury hadn’t impacted his ability to be selected in the following weeks, then he probably – in all likelihood – would have still been out there off the back of that performance.

“So he’s worked his way back to full fitness and gets another opportunity.”

The Gloucester game was O’Connor’s first Champions Cup start, with his previous two appearances in the competition coming off the bench in December 2023.

Tomorrow will be his second start of this season on the wing, having also worn the 15 jersey in the October win against Cardiff. Last season, O’Connor made five starts for the province, all coming at fullback.

“I think there would be a feeling in the coaching group that his best position is probably fullback, because that’s probably where he’s played most of his rugby,” McMillan said.

“But there’s a lot of similarities between the positions. And ultimately through most of the games Shane Daly’s been at fullback and been one of our really consistent performers. 

“I think he’s a great communicator, a massive work rate, equally good under the high ball, and we just think we can probably simplify Ben’s game a little bit by just putting him on the wing at this stage.

“But I think, yeah, we probably are of the feeling that long term his position is at fullback.”  

O’Connor steps into the number 11 shirt which Thaakir Abrahams has worn eight times this season, with the South African not involved tomorrow.

The Stade Mayol is not sold out for the game, but the province are still expecting the usual loud, vibrant atmosphere you get on French away days.

We’ve had stereos blaring at training with the sort of noise that you’re likely to encounter there.

“But it’s like anything, you can do all the prepping in the world but until you actually get there and experience it, sometimes the preparation doesn’t quite make what you actually encounter on the day (any easier). But there’s a real opportunity when you go to places like that, and I mention even when people come to play us that you can feed off that energy if it’s channelled in the right way.

“We know we’re going to go there and we’ll have our fair share of supporters, they’ll be outnumbered by others, but we’ll embrace the cauldron, embrace European rugby, embrace the atmosphere and use that energy to help us get the sort of performance that we’re looking for.”

Munster felt they let those supporters down as they were ripped apart early on the opening weekend in Bath. With big numbers expected to travel again this weekend, it’s an opportunity to set that right. That said, McMillan is cautious of placing too much emphasis on these Champions Cup occasions, knowing the URC challenges have to mean just as much to the group.

Munster head coach Clayton McMillan. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

“There’s obviously a huge amount of excitement around European games, but I said it after last week, I understand the importance of Europe, there’s a huge buzz around it, but also our challenge is to ensure that we don’t put those big games on such a pedestal that the other games that we have every other week, we lose a sense of purpose in comparison.

“We’re not good enough at the moment to be thinking that way. We actually need to approach every week in isolation and prepare for each team to be at their best and know that we need to be somewhere near our best to win those games.

“I do love the bouncing between competitions. I love playing different teams who obviously play differently, referee differently, different crowds, different cultures. It’s an amazing part of this competition. But I’d be lying if I said that as a coach I feel the same about every game and want us to approach it the same way.”