While we're only approaching the one-third mark of the BKT United Rugby Championship regular season, the five rounds of games to date are more than enough evidence to suggest there's a target on Munster's back.
The defending champions are well placed ahead of their Round 6 meeting with Leinster at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday; three wins and a draw from five games leaves them sixth overall, but just three points back from their opponents who top the table.
While they strolled past the Dragons at Musgrave Park, a look through their other four games would suggest their status as champions is bringing out the best in their opposition.
They eventually pulled clear against the Sharks on the opening day, but they were only 10 in front heading into the final quarter of an hour, and they're yet to win away from home having snatched a draw against a dogged Benetton before losing to a depleted Ulster in Belfast earlier this month.
Saturday's 10-3 win against the Stormers got them back on track, but the South African side were without their World Cup winners at Thomond Park. Even after the game, their head coach John Dobson was taking more positives than negatives about how they put it up to Munster, while the province's coach Graham Rowntree admitted they're getting used to being the team people want to beat.
"We spoke about that target on our backs but if we just keep getting better, things will take care of themselves in my mind. Keep bringing people through and getting better," he said on Saturday night.
While Munster showed their grit at Thomond Park on Saturday night, they'll need more than that this weekend against a Leinster side who have scored 182 points and 26 tries in just five games so far this season.
It's a first meeting of the pair since the URC semi-final last May, when Jack Crowley's late drop-goal sealed a famous win for Munster, and broke a run of four defeats in a row to their biggest rivals.
And with Leinster eyeing revenge, Munster forwards coach Andi Kyriacou knows his side will be tested in ways they haven't experienced yet this season.
"Oh yeah, absolutely, their trophy cabinet looks the way it does for a reason," the Munster assistant said of Leinster.
"They're a great outfit. They’ve got a lot of lads who have been at the club for a number of years now. They understand their game plan inside out and are able to execute things.
"They’ve got great coaches that plan things unbelievably well in terms of their detail and yeah, we’re going to have to be 100% to beat them at the weekend.
"We showed in that semi-final that they don’t go away. I know it’s cliched but it’s going to be a 23-man game and we’re going to have to go for 80 [minutes]."
In that 16-15 win in the URC semi-final last May, Munster's gung-ho attack and dominance at the breakdown ultimately decided the game, which was reflected in a 12-5 penalty count.
That same level of breakdown dominance hasn't been coming Munster's way in the early stages of the campaign, with Ulster getting the better of them in that department two weeks ago, and while the Stormers didn't force a slew of penalties and turnovers last week the South Africans did enough to slow down Munster's attack.
"We put a fair bit into it, the first two days of this week," Kyriacou said of the breakdown.
"From an off-field side of things, reviewing and previewing the game from the weekend and what we'll face this weekend, and then putting it into practice on the grass, we've put a bit of work on it. We cover it quite a bit anyway from week to week, it's a big part of the way we play, but that's pretty similar for all Irish teams, both from a national point of view.
"We saw in the World Cup, the tempo of the breakdown and the speed Irish teams want to play at is something we're all striving for. We're doing our work and will be looking to go and execute it at the weekend."
And the Munster forwards coach says he expects Leinster to come after the ruck when the sides meet at the Aviva on Saturday.
"Absolutely, both sides of the ball, defensively and on attack, I'm sure they're saying exactly the same thing in their presser and to the lads in their preview this week.
"It's a main part of the game in terms of the way the speed of the game is generated. We'll be looking to slow them down like they'll be looking to slow us down, and speed it up when we have ball in hand. That's the game."
Watch live coverage of the Vodacom Bulls v Connacht in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Saturday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
Follow a live blog of Leinster v Munster on Saturday from 6.30pm on on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
