No need for Munster panic, says Ulster boss
And he also stressed that there is no way he would panic if he happened to be the Munster coach, despite back-to-back Magners League defeats.
“Munster are a great team. They have only lost a couple of games. Tony (McGahan, his Munster counterpart) won’t panic] They are too great a side. They are a class team and a class organisation.
“I first coached against Munster in 1999. The more I have coached against them, the more respect I have for them. I was pretty emotional [about the victory] as my grandfather John Patrick Ryan was from Limerick. I was thinking about him a lot during the week.
“I think he might be proud. [But] doing them in one game doesn’t make us a champion team. Munster do it year after year. That is what makes them a champion side. We have done it for a couple of weeks, so we are nowhere near in that part of the world yet.”
Williams and McGahan have both been referring to their responsibility where the national team is concerned. Quite clearly, Irish coach Declan Kidney has a very good working relationship with the provincial coaches despite Michael Bradley’s thinly-veiled criticism of the perceived poor treatment of players plying their trade west of the Shannon after Connacht’s recent victory over Munster.
Now, after recent excellent performances from the likes of Darren Cave, Ian Humphreys, Tom Court and Robbie Diack, not to mention Stephen Ferris, Ulster also believe they have a number of candidates for recognition at the highest level. In fairness, Williams wasn’t for going down that road and even went so far as to caution against pressing players’ claims after one or two outstanding performances.
“Declan has been very good in his communication with me,” he said. “We go a long way back so we have always got on well. He has looked for feedback on players and we have provided it. We are here to support the national team and national coach.”
This is a mantra that Kidney trotted out time and time again during his reign at Munster, so he must be quietly pleased that the provincial coaches are maintaining a similar stance. McGahan has been co-operating to such an extent that there have been dark murmurings about the teams he has fielded over the past few weeks, all the more so when they crashed to embarrassing defeats against Connacht and Ulster.
The Aussie is not one for making excuses. Instead, he points out that he was simply adhering to IRFU guidelines and that he had no problem with that even if he also added that Munster will field the strongest available side against the Ospreys in Swansea on Friday night.
Rua Tipoki definitely misses that game and it is unlikely that Ronan O’Gara will be risked if there is the slightest danger of further damage to his hamstring. McGahan will demand at the very least a more cohesive and more committed display than his side has managed over the past month or so. A third successive defeat would be bad enough, to go down without much of a fight (as happened against Connacht and Ulster) would be disastrous only a week before the Heineken Cup clash with Sale Sharks.
On the assumption that O’Gara will not play in Swansea, the probability is that Paul Warwick will be named at out-half outside Tomas O’Leary, who has been rested for the past two games. Keith Earls will probably resume at full-back with either Barry Murphy or Kieran Lewis in the centre alongside Lifeimi Mafi, with Doug Howlett and Ian Dowling on the wings.
McGahan won’t look beyond the customary front five of Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan and Paul O’Connell but will assuredly give a lot of thought to the composition of his back-row.
New Zealander Nick Williams looked some distance off full fitness during his 50 minutes on Saturday night so the likelihood is that David Wallace will remain at number 8 with Alan Quinlan and Niall Ronan on the flanks.
There is a chance that Denis Leamy could come into the reckoning for a place on the bench as he continues to recover ahead of expectation from a knee injury. The possibility that he could then be considered for a similar role a week later against Sale would be a huge boost to morale in the Munster camp.
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