Leamy calls for direct approach against Toulon

DENIS LEAMY insisted next weekend’s visit of Toulon to Thomond Park would see Munster return to their strengths in a now crucial Heineken Cup Pool Three encounter.

Defeat at London Irish in the European opener on Saturday brings even more emphasis to the requirement that home wins are a must if two-time champions Munster are to progress to the knockout stages of this prestigious competition for the 13th year in succession.

With free-spending Toulon visiting Limerick next Saturday, the pressure is already on Munster to extract maximum points from the home games and that, said Leamy, will force a return to a more recognisable Munster gameplan.

“We’ve got to be a bit more direct, definitely,” Leamy said following the 23-17 defeat at Madejski Stadium.

“We’ve got to go forward more rather than a little bit lateral but it’s still early days.

“It wasn’t the perfect performance by any means, we lost, but I think the positives are that we’re coming away from here with a losing bonus point and that could be huge come the back end in January.”

As for Toulon, with English fly-half Jonny Wilkinson in flying form, Leamy added: “It is a big challenge. This competition is fantastic and every game is like a one-off, a massive game in its own right. So Toulon coming to Thomond Park is a must-win game.”

“That’s the way the competition is and it’s very rewarding if you win your games and very rewarding if you pick up points on the road. It’s just that you have to win your home games, there’s no question about that. It’s a huge game next week. We have to take at least four points and if we don’t we’re under huge, huge pressure.”

That said, the last time the province lost an opening Heineken Cup game in England, a 24-23 reverse at London Wasps in 2007-08, they picked up a bonus point and went on to win the trophy, and Leamy said his Munster team-mates still had the same appetite for the fight.

“There’s huge belief in our side and on Saturday we probably were the creators of our own downfall in many ways. Our discipline wasn’t where it needed to be and we gave away an intercept try, which was unfortunate and these things happen.

“On the positive side, we fought back and when you get that bonus point, it’s something to come out of this from here.”

Leamy also took exception to London Irish head coach Toby Booth’s assertion that his team had controlled the game for 75 minutes of the 80.

“I don’t know what game he was watching,” the Munster captain said. “I’m not sure, 75 minutes. We’d have a different perspective. We certainly put ourselves in a position we wouldn’t want to on regular occasions. We gave away a lot of penalties in the first half and we come out then and give away an intercept try and we’re suddenly 20 points to six down and it’s very, very difficult from there.

“But I was delighted with the attitude of our lads and the lads that came off the bench put in a great shift and we got back and got a bonus point and it is something to come away from here with although we’re disappointed with the loss.”