Munster pledge to go back to basics

THE names may change but Munster’s blue collar work ethic will still go a long way to reestablishing Munster’s reputation as one of the most feared forward packs in Europe.

With Wian du Preez, Damian Varley and Tony Buckley setting the example, Munster’s scrum looked encouragingly solid in the defeat of Gloucester – even with a new-look front row of Dave Ryan, Denis Fogarty and Stephen Archer.

The icing on the cake, however, was how Munster prospered from a good lineout to score two tries from driving mauls.

Denis Leamy explained: “Some of our scrum work was excellent and to get two tries off the maul – I’d say we haven’t done that in three years – was really special. But it was down to a lot of hard work.”

The challenge steps up a notch this weekend when Munster take on Italian newcomers Aironi in the opening round of the Magners League (Musgrave Park, Saturday, 7.30pm). “We expect to come up against a fairly competitive pack this weekend, so it will be interesting,” Leamy mused.

Coach Tony McGahan was also pleased with Munster’s set-piece: “The scrummaging against Gloucester was pretty awesome; it came about from the finish to last season when it became clear there was work to be done. Set pieces are crucial to results and we weren’t anywhere as near where we needed to be last year in those areas.

“We have put in a lot of work now with Paul (McCarthy) coming in to do a tremendous job; Lawrie (Fisher) and Axel (Anthony Foley) are doing their bit with the maul; these are two weapons we want to get back into our game.

“Set pieces should be a cornerstone of the game we want to go forward with; this was a step in the right direction. Last week was a tough game against a pretty full-on Leicester side and I figure we saw the benefits of that game against Gloucester.

“Without a doubt the game is ever changing but there are certain elements that don’t change; one of them is the requirement to have a solid set-piece game and a good scrum would be a huge part of that.”

Veteran flanker Alan Quinlan is in no doubt either that problems with scrum and maul play had to be addressed.

“We reached the semi-finals of two competitions last season and some clubs and many players would be delighted with that; in Munster that’s not quite good enough. We were disappointed for many reasons and our set-piece play was one of the big things that let us down. It was crucial that we address these aspects because we underachieved and under-performed.

“It wasn’t anything special (the solution), just a matter of putting in extra work and longer hours on the training pitch; obviously with the fitness and medical staff and associated matters to consider, we had to be careful how much time was spent on the pitch, but they (backroom staff) managed the thing very well.”