It’s good to talk, says Leamy

JUST as political parties might do once a year for less appealing reasons, the Munster rugby squad regrouped in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, on Monday following their Magners League loss to Leinster – to assess whether they were a team in crisis or one just slightly off-colour.

By their actions, the difference between sport and politics was graphically illustrated in that it was merely one of a number of regular assessments for a team still on top of the Celtic competition. Self-critical analysis is part of the package for professional players and coaches.

Yet, in advance of Saturday’s opening Heineken Cup clash against London Irish at the Madjeski Stadium in Reading, it was probably necessary; there were many serious issues to be discussed, like what went wrong in their Aviva Stadium debut; why they rarely, if ever, looked like scoring a try and how they lost a fifth successive derby to their Irish arch-rivals.

But it was a good blow-out, reckoned Munster’s stand-in captain Denis Leamy. “We thrashed out a few things, talked about what went well, what didn’t go well and what we need to do to move forwards,” he said.

Leamy was pleased with Munster’s performance up front. Acknowledging the menacing presence of the towering Leinster second row Devin Toner and the problems he created in the second half, the Munster captain nonetheless enthused: “I figure we matched them and in some places beat them; going in at half-time I figured we had come out better. Somewhere along the line they managed to get some momentum, came at us in waves and got the try which was vital in a tight game.”

He’s aware that it mightn’t be such a tight affair this Saturday on the basis that London Irish have proved so adept at counter-attacking and creative rugby so far in the Aviva Premiership.

“Yeah, when you play against new opposition it probably means it will be a different style game. Certainly, they play some (good) rugby; they have a huge amount of pace on the wings, in the back three in fact and they’ve got powerful physical players as well, both in the backs and in the back row.

“We’re going to have to force them to work hard to bring their numbers in to contest ruck ball and cut down on giving them opportunities of overlaps out wide,” he said.

Leamy did, however, insist that Munster’s prospects of victory would come down to their own ability to perform going forward. He admitted to failings behind the scrum last week and acknowledged that they might have to rely on some pre-planned moves.

“It’s really about us getting over the gain-line, about us being physical and about being able to create quick ball. Away wins are hard to come by in Europe and to get one in our first match would be a huge positive.”