Saracens v Munster betting preview, tips & TV details

BT Sport 2, 3pm Saturday

Saracens have recorded winning margins of ten, 19, 26, 12, 18, 19 and 29 in going seven out of seven in the Champions Cup this season.

However, there are good reasons to think that Munster are going to make them work much harder at the neutral Ricoh Arena for a place in next month's St James' Park final.

The Irish club are without first-choice fly-half Joey Carbery and stalwart outside back Keith Earls, the two-try hero of their quarter-final success at Edinburgh.

Six of Saracens' European wins have come on artificial surfaces, while Lyon were already eliminated by round five of the pool stage, and Saturday's last-gasp 23-21 loss at Bristol was Saracens' fifth in a row away from Allianz Park in the league.

That run of league road defeats includes reverses at leaders Exeter and third-placed Gloucester, where Munster drew and won comfortably respectively in the Champions Cup pool stages.

Munster were also somewhat unfortunately edged out in a brutal contest in Castres in Pool Two and even with player management a clear priority for head coach Johann van Graan, they have not lost by nine points or more in the Pro14 since September.

Morale in the camp will be high after they maintained the pressure on Glasgow for top spot in Conference A with their try-bonus win at Benetton, who are in the hunt for a Conference B playoff spot.

Saracens boss Mark McCall is under no illusions that this game will be anything other than a scrap with Ireland aces Peter O'Mahony and Tadhg Beirne experts at disruption for Munster.

They will not be blind to the qualities, hidden for spells by injury, that Kiwi ten Tyler Bleyendaal possesses or be complacent that while Earls is a man for the big occasion, his wing replacement Darren Sweetnam is no danger.

Back have come the available Sarries big guns who were rested or unavailable last weekend and crack forwards Vincent Koch, Will Skelton and Schalk Burger are among the replacements, so it could well be a seventh straight semi-final loss for Munster.

It is more likely that the Red Army will be sent wild by a Munster triumph, as they were on their last trip to Coventry 11 years ago than be crestfallen as they were after the teams' 2017 last-four meeting.

Recommendation
Munster +9
2pts 10-11 Betfair, Paddy Power

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