From horror show to Heineken hope?
ONE wonders if the Munster brains trust took cognisance of what Leinster’s Sean Cronin said in a press conference during the week when talking about their bonus point win in the Rabo over Edinburgh in Scotland last weekend. “We managed to pile a lot of pressure on Edinburgh by carrying a lot of ball to grind them down.”
There has been much said and written about Munster’s abject performance against the Cardiff Blues last Saturday and I know the players were very disappointed, even embarrassed, by the performance. The key thing now is how they channel that disappointment and how they adjust from a tactical perspective to achieve a bonus point win. To that end watch closely how Munster set themselves up in the key opening quarter. I expect them to be more direct in their play, to carry more ball as Cronin outlined but this time more north/south as opposed to east/west i.e. directly towards the opposition try line as opposed to the touchlines.
James Downey must be allowed to do what he does best and get over the advantage line from set plays which, at the very least, will generate forward momentum. Munster also need to introduce a few more lineout mauls in order to suck in the Edinburgh forwards and once they have established that forward momentum, there is ample opportunity to exploit the advances that Rob Penney has engineered from broken play.
If Munster are guilty of anything at present, it is a young team trying too hard to impose themselves with ball in hand and that has led to far too many unforced handling errors. Penney cited 29 in total of one form or another against Cardiff and that simply has to be eradicated. The interesting thing to look out for is how they set their stall in eliminating those errors.
THREE tries in four Heineken Cup outings is a damning indictment on Leinster’s form in Europe this season and could yet cost them the chance of retaining their title for a third consecutive season. One of those three five-pointers, scored in the very last play of the match against Clermont Auvergne at the Aviva Stadium last December by Fergus McFadden, could yet prove invaluable as it secured the losing bonus point at the death that keeps Leinster’s faint qualification chances alive. The question now is, can they avail of that get out of jail card?
To do so, they need to rediscover their try-scoring touch. For a team seen as the most potent attacking force in Europe over the last few seasons, the return to arms of Brian O’Driscoll, Rob and Dave Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Eoin O’Malley to the selection mix should aid their cause. Last season Leinster mesmerised opposition defences with the variety, accuracy and inventiveness of their back play. In the quarter-final against Cardiff Blues in Dublin they were magnificent with Jonny Sexton off-loading on the blind in the certainty that players were running into holes while fixing his opposite number with his eyes.
While it is unlikely that Leinster will be able to push a button and reproduce that type of accuracy from their play book on the return of so many key players, the truth is they need to produce something special to stay in the hunt for a quarter-final slot. In the event of teams from different pools finishing on the same number of points when seeking one of the two best runners-up slots, the thing that separates them is the number in the ‘tries scored’ column. Over the last four seasons, the number in Leinster’s column over the six pool games has been 18, 21,19 and 15 respectively. Therefore, they have serious ground to make up on that front.
WITH the fallout from Munster’s defeat by Cardiff last weekend still simmering, nothing but a win in Edinburgh tomorrow will ease the pressure on the squad and management. Munster could be added an additional incentive for success if fellow Pool 1 contenders Racing Metro beat Saracens today.
Munster still harbour regrets about losing their opening game against the French side at the Stade de France back in October when the game turned on a combination of the failure of Paul O’Connell to ground the ball for a second Munster try in the opening half and a rush of blood from Conor Murray in the final quarter. Racing Metro, who looked distinctly ordinary on that occasion, have come good of late with a spectacular win against Toulon last weekend marking their best performance of the season.
The question now is whether they can build on that success after the physical and emotional drain of winning in the south of France only six days ago. Or will they resort to type and follow an excellent performance with another mediocre one? Given that they have moved this contest to the Stade De La Beaujoire in Nantes and delivered a 35,000 sell-out crowd, Racing will want to impress a new audience and deliver a victory over a high-flying English Premiership side. Should they do so and Munster follow it up with a bonus point win in Edinburgh, Rob Penney’s men would be playing to win the pool in Thomond Park tomorrow week. What a turnaround that would mark after the horror show in Musgrave Park a week ago.
