While the anticipation has been immense, if not the expectation of another shock result, the mood is as sombre and grey as the skies above Limerick as Munster prepare for the eighth time to face the All Blacks.

Thirty years ago the Irish province stunned the rugby world by beating Graham Mourie's New Zealand 12-0 at Thomond Park. David had slain Goliath. However, it was an achievement overshadowed by death, with Donal Canniffe, the Munster captain, discovering within minutes of the final whistle that his father, Dan, had died from a heart attack while listening to the epic encounter on the radio. He collapsed at home in Cork at half-time, at the moment when, about 60 miles away, his son was exhorting his players to continue their heroics, uttering: “We are only 40 minutes from immortality.”

It was a tragic postscript to one of the most famous days in Munster's proud history, one that lends extreme poignancy to the wonderful play Alone It Stands, which skilfully retells the story of a rugby match on October 31, 1978, an event that has become enshrined in local folklore.

The spectre of death lingers across today's fixture, too, with the murder of Shane Geoghegan. The third-team captain and prop at Garryowen, one of Limerick's famous old clubs, was shot dead, a victim of mistaken identity in a drugs feud, hours after watching Ireland beat Canada at Thomond Park ten days ago. A minute's silence will be held tonight for Geoghegan at the rebuilt citadel that serves as Munster's home, that will officially be re-opened after a €40million (about £33.8million) refurbishment.

Times Archive 1978: Magnificent Munster shatter theory of All Blacks' invincibility

An inspired Munster XV wrote themselves an everlasting page in rugby history by being the first to bring down an All Blacks side on Irish soil

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The demands of professional rugby have changed the nature of the game and Ireland's Munster contingent are unable to play because the national team face Argentina on Saturday, when World Cup seeding points will be at stake. New Zealand are fielding a second XV and they should win comfortably.

It is easy to forget what an achievement Munster's win was three decades ago. Thirteen of that fabled team either had played for Ireland - among them Canniffe, who had been capped twice in 1976 - or went on to do so. New Zealand had swept past their opposition in their opening four matches, playing a fast, expansive brand of rugby. For the record, a try by Christy Cantillon, converted by Tony Ward, who also dropped two goals, constituted the scoring.

This evening's match has attracted a celebrity guest list, among them Bono, the lead singer of U2, Michael Flatley, of Riverdance fame, and Padraig Harrington, the Open champion. Jonah Lomu, the giant former All Blacks wing, is also in town, having switched on the Limerick Christmas lights last night.

The appreciation of what Munster stands for runs deep, a thread that ties successive teams. It is why the 1978 vintage will present the match jerseys to their counterparts today, among them Munster's three New Zealanders, Doug Howlett, Rua Tipoki and Lifeimi Mafi, who are undertstood to be preparing their response to the haka.

Canniffe was 29 in 1978, when the tale of the unexpected unfolded so dramatically, and had taken over the captaincy only a month before the match, which no one except Tom Kiernan, the coach, believed Munster could win. Kiernan, the former Ireland full back, flogged his players mercilessly on the training field for six weeks then, the night before the match, produced a video with some snippets of New Zealand's attacking ploys. However, no one had a video recorder, so a plea went out and the team watched it in a nearby factory.

“The place went berserk when we won,” Canniffe said yesterday. “We were mobbed and took an age to get into the dressing-room. The noise was such we could not hear ourselves think. I took the players out again to acknowledge the crowds and when we came back in I had a phone call. A friend told me my father was in hospital having collapsed. I was numb. I got a second call minutes later and it was the friend again saying, ‘I'm sorry, your father's died.'

“I was out of the place and gone within ten or 15 minutes of the final whistle. I couldn't take it all in. Instead of going back to celebrate I was going to Cork to organise his funeral. It was bittersweet. You have to deal with the good and bad in life, the ups and downs, and accept what fate brings.”