Munster's Paul O'Connell says he is unfazed by the prospect of playing on a slightly unfamiliar synthetic pitch when the province take on Saracens in the European Champions Cup this weekend.
The Ireland captain was speaking to Off The Ball's Dave McIntyre and touched on the impact the English Premiership side's 4G pitch may have as the province chase a crucial win.
"I've never played on one," O'Connell admitted. "I've trained on them a lot. When you get the feedback from training, the GPS scores, the metres per minute and the high speed running is always higher than it is on a normal pitch. So things definitely happen quicker but I'm not too bothered. We've an excellent 4G pitch down here and we train on it to get used to these games like Saracens and Cardiff."
O'Connell also highlighted the need for the province's kicking game to be at its best on that pitch.
"When you've got a team with that sort of line speed, you really need your kicking game to be accurate and hopefully if we can do that this weekend, we'll be in with a good chance," said O'Connell, who also praised Saracens' pack and the variation to their lineout.
O'Connell also spoke about the boost provided by the returns of team-mates Keith Earls and James Cronin from injury.
Their head coach Anthony Foley also spoke to Dave and made a point of emphasising the need for focus.
The last few weeks have seen the highs of a win at Leinster, followed by a defeat at Connacht and Foley says he is keeping everything in perspective.
"You take the wins and you don't get too high on them. It's the same with the losses, you don't get too low on them because when you're in this game, they tend to happen so there's no point in having a see-saw effect on your emotions," he said.
The Munster game will be live on Off The Ball this Saturday with a commentary team of Dave McIntyre, Liam Toland and Gavin Duffy.
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