Donal Lenihan: Sunday represents Munster’s greatest ever challenge in Europe

With the pool stage now reduced from six to four games in a revamped format, the margin for error has diminished

Wed, 08 Dec, 2021 - 07:00

Munster have pulled off some remarkable feats, fashioned against the odds in a variety of famous rugby citadels around Europe over the course of 183 Heineken Champions Cup games since a first encounter against Swansea in Limerick back in 1995.

Hardened followers have their favourite moments dating back to pool wins over a Saracens side led by Springbok World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar, followed by a first-ever semi-final success over Toulouse in Bordeaux in that groundbreaking 1999/00 season. Those remarkable wins set the ball rolling and instilled a new level of belief that propelled Munster on an epic journey culminating in the a pair of Heineken Cup triumphs in 2006 and 2008.

There’s been much heartache since Toulouse and that memorable 2008 decider in Cardiff, with seven successive defeats at the semi-final stage the closest Munster has got to contesting another final. With the pool stage now reduced from six to four games in a revamped format, the margin for error has diminished to the point of difficulty in even qualifying for the knockout phase.

That’s why the predicament Munster find themselves in, as a result of events completely outside their control in South Africa, has led to possibly their greatest ever challenge in Europe next Sunday. Johann van Graan just can’t catch a break at the moment.

What he really needed was a home fixture to open this season’s European campaign given that the 10-day quarantine period for the players fortunate to have made it back from South Africa last week ends at midnight on Saturday night.

Playing in Thomond Park would have made the decision to include some of the repatriated players in his match day squad marginally easier. He now has to decide whether it’s even possible to fortify his starting team with some players who feel mentally and physically able to contribute something off the bench.

If so, it means flying them into Bristol or Birmingham on Sunday morning for onward transfer to Coventry.

Right now, Van Graan is playing a numbers game as he attempts to cobble together 23 players capable of competing against a Gallagher Premiership side. The one break Munster have caught is that Wasps aren’t exactly setting their domestic league alight at present with just three wins from nine games plummeting them in ninth place in the table.

Much of that is due to the fact Wasps have been dealing with an injury crisis of monumental proportions since the outset of the season that has led, ironically, to one of the Munster squad in Alex McHenry going on loan to the club. He appeared in the centre as recently as last Saturday in the narrow 32-31 defeat to Worcester Warriors, who sit one place below them in the Premiership.

That will help convince Munster that, despite the circumstances they find themselves in, they may just be able to dip into their deep reservoir of belligerence and self-esteem to summon one of those famous performances against the odds that came to characterise their very existence in Europe.

You can just envisage Peter O’Mahony galvanising the young academy troops with one of his trademark piercing stares in training this week, cajoling them into producing performance levels they never thought possible. Realistically however, even if that happens, what chance have they in bettering the five-point haul and 28-0 defeat that Wasps will automatically be handed if Munster were unable to fulfill the fixture?

Despite all the disruptions, Van Graan will draw some solace from the fact he should be able to start a potent back line, including six regular starters in half backs Conor Murray and Joey Carbery, a quality midfield in Damien de Allende and Chris Farrell with proven finishers in Andrew Conway and Keith Earls on the wings.

After that it gets a bit more challenging even if a door may open prematurely for a rising young talent in Patrick Campbell at full-back. This time last year Campbell was studying for his Leaving Cert in PBC, starved of rugby due to the Covid-19-enforced shutdown, having won an All-Ireland minor football medal with Cork back in September 2019.

Having moved to Limerick as part of the Munster academy, Campbell has starred for Young Munster in the early rounds of the All-Ireland League, offering further evidence of the role this undervalued outlet has to play in the professional game if only the likes of IRFU director of rugby David Nucifora would fully embrace it.

The other possibility open to Van Graan in the back three is to include former Ireland U20 Grand Slam winner Jonathan Wren. His progress has been severely disrupted by injury over the last two seasons but he was just about to be made available for AIL action prior to this current crisis.

Whether this weekend proves too soon for him remains to be seen. If Campbell is thrust in at the deep end, I suspect he has the temperament and ability to make his mark.

Things get a bit more complicated with Munster severely compromised up front. Right now it appears as if O’Mahony, Tadhg Beirne, and Dave Kilcoyne are the only regular front liners available to start.

The most challenging situation and the one fraught with most danger surrounds the options available to the management in the front row. Munster travelled to South Africa with six props and four hookers, some of whom are still quarantining in Cape Town. The majority of the 14-strong contingent still in South Africa are due back in Ireland tomorrow but may be required to complete a further 10-day period of isolation on their return.

Munster may seek to reinforce their front row options by flying some players still in lockdown in Ireland out to Coventry on Sunday morning even if they won’t have trained for over two weeks.

Outside of them, the options are limited.

Hooker Declan Moore, who arrived from Australia two months ago, has only featured for Munster at A level along with a few appearances for Shannon in Division 1B of the AIL. The only other hooker available is academy player Scott Buckley, but it appears he may also be tasked with a covering role in the back row where he’s started out as a schools player with CBC.

The news that Roman Salanoa has recovered from his recent knee injury to start at tight head prop, with Kilcoyne available at loose head, at least offers Munster some scrum stability from the outset. If Munster choose not to include any of the quarantined group then academy props Mark Donnelly and James French may have to be pressed into bench action.

Tadhg Beirne will start in the second row with 6’6” Academy lock Eoin O’Connor a potential partner. Who will join O’Mahony in the back row is unclear with recent Ireland U20 international Daniel Okeke and provincial talent squad member John Forde in the mix. It was hoped that John Hodnett, hugely impressive before an achilles tendon injury set his progress back last season, would be available but Munster ruled him out of the equation in a medical update yesterday due to an ankle injury.

After that the make-up of the bench is, as they say in Cork “all-a-baa”. It now appears unlikely any amateur players from Munster’s AIL clubs will be drafted into the squad. In the midst of all this, the welfare of the players and management who have been isolating for so long, at home and abroad, remains paramount.

Scarlets conceded on that front yesterday. With 32 players still in quarantine in Belfast after their return from South Africa, they recognised they didn’t have sufficient resources to fulfill their opening Champions Cup fixture against Bristol Bears on Saturday. Munster remain committed to turning up in Coventry but, for once, the outcome of this Champions Cup opener is of secondary importance.