Munster won’t hold back against Italians

THE Munster management is taking nothing for granted ahead of tonight’s Heineken Cup clash with Viadana at Musgrave Park (7.30pm).

Two members of the squad have travelled to see the Italians in action while the side have also studied three tapes of their matches.

So far, Viadana have proved the customary canon fodder for the British and French teams they have played. On the opening day of the campaign, they performed decently enough away from home to hold Perpignan to 46-27 but a week later conceded 12 tries to Gloucester when losing at home, 80-28.

Munster coach Alan Gaffney has obviously noted those and other scorelines which show that while Viadana score a lot of points, they tend to give away an awful lot more.

“We’ve done a bit of work on them,” Gaffney said. “They scored 49 points the day we had them watched, the thing is the other side got 40. They can attack, no doubt about it, but obviously their defence is questionable.”

Gaffney didn’t hesitate when asked what he felt Munster had to do to get out of Pool Two: “Win the next four games. That’s all we’re looking at. We’re not worried about how many tries we have to score. If we finish second in our pool and score a lot of tries against Viadana, we may get in as the 7th or 8th qualifier. But if we want to finish top of the pool, we have to beat Gloucester, especially if they win home and away against Perpignan. Our hope, of course, is that they win one each so if we beat Perpignan we go into what is essentially a final against Gloucester at home in mid-January.

“It is important for us to go out and score tries against Viadana. We’ve got to go out and play a really controlled, disciplined game. It will take a lot of hard work.

“The players understand how they’ve got to play this game and that’s not by throwing the ball all over the place and scoring in the corner. That’s not going to happen. Patience is going to come into it and that’s something we’re drilling into the players.”

Gaffney is pleased the injury bug that has afflicted the squad is nearing an end. John Kelly trained this week and is nearly ready, leaving the luckless David Wallace and John O’Neill as the remaining long-term casualties. The coach also welcomes back Anthony Horgan and Jeremy Staunton on the wing and at full-back for tonight’s game.

“It’s good news for Ireland and good news for us. Killian Keane and Colm McMahon did themselves proud last week playing out of position but it’s encouraging to have quality players like Anthony and Jeremy coming back, they lend an extra bit of pace,” Gaffney said.

Hopefully, that kind of pace will eventually lead to the bucketful of tries which will enhance the team’s prospects of reaching the knockout stages for the fifth successive year.

MUNSTER: J. Staunton; M. Lawler, M. Mullins, J. Holland, A. Horgan; R. O’Gara, P. Stringer; M. Horan, F. Sheahan, J. Hayes, D. O’Callaghan, J. Williams capt, A. Quinlan, A. Foley.Replacements: K. Keane, C. McMahon, M. Prendergast, S. Kerr, J. Fogarty, M. O’Driscoll, E. Halvey.

Referee: Hugh Watkins (Wales).