Bring it on, declares Murphy

JOHNE MURPHY draws the line at rocks but as far as anything else Ospreys can throw at Munster, bring it on.

Munster head into Swansea’s Liberty Stadium this afternoon looking to kill off Ospreys’ Heineken Cup dream and the former Leicester Tigers back is relishing the opportunity to have a memorable afternoon on a foreign field in front of a raucous crowd.

“The more intimidating the better, I see it that way. I remember playing in Perpignan, Geordan Murphy getting hit by a rock and it’s that kind of stuff that you remember from games like that.

“It was a weird situation and I’m sure that definitely won’t happen this weekend but the more intimidating the place, the better the kick you get from it, as long as you’re on the right side of the result.”

Even with its highest attendance of the season of 15,000-plus, the Liberty Stadium will probably not be as intimidating as Perpignan’s Stade Aimé Giral, despite the best efforts of the Ospreys’ marketing staff to stoke up their fans, yet Murphy is looking forward to trying to gain an invaluable away win in a bristling atmosphere.

“It’s one of those places very similar to London Irish. It’s a soccer ground and they fill both sides and they’re saying they’ll get their biggest crowd of the season.

“Personally, that excites me, we look forward to it.

“The away victories you get are the ones you remember throughout the career, it gives me a gee-up. Throughout Munster’s career, they have had some tremendous away victories and if you want to win this competition, you have to beat really good teams away from home.

“We’re looking forward to it and hopefully the atmosphere can add to that. I know from when Munster visited Welford Road, their travelling support is fantastic and at the Madejski this year they were amazing. Hopefully, they’ll travel in numbers and we can give them something to shout about.”

Murphy helped Munster give the Thomond Park crowd a lot to shout about last Sunday afternoon when Ospreys were seen off — eventually — in a hard-fought 22-16 victory, the last 10 minutes of which were negotiated minus the dismissal of Paul O’Connell. Murphy scored the second of two quickfire second-half tries as the Ospreys struggled without the sin-binned Paul James, that gave Munster the cushion that proved so valuable in the closing minutes.

Themselves down to 14 players, it was only after Alan Quinlan’s 80th-minute snaffle at a breakdown inside the Munster 22 that victory was assured and Murphy was left with mixed emotions.

“It was a bit weird coming off the pitch, I felt a little odd. We had the chance of a bonus point win without allowing them one but it ended up with them getting a bonus point.

“Then at the end they were putting pressure on us and if it weren’t for Quinny’s turnover we could have ultimately lost the game. In this group, it’s vitally important you win home games. We did that and in the circumstances, Paulie and that, to dog out the win with 14 men is as good a result as anything.”

The gritty finish will at least give Munster some momentum heading to south Wales for today’s rematch, although there are areas for improvement, said Murphy. “The glaring thing from last weekend was the intercept try. We just have to improve our communication when in the green zone. Our execution is the most important thing. If Tommy Bowe hadn’t got the ball, there was three on one outside and that’s a 14-point swing.

“We have to make sure that we don’t let that happen this week, especially away from home because we won’t get as many chances as we got last weekend. We have to take them when we get them.”

In a tight group, with Pool Three games at Toulon and at home to London Irish to come in January, an away win this weekend can ease the pressure on Munster’s qualification following the French side’s victory over the Exiles last Sunday, although Murphy knows from experience that Ospreys on home soil will be no pushover.

“If we win, we have the back broken, with Toulon winning in Irish, that throws the cat amongst the pigeons perhaps. But we know if we win, we’re in a really good place to get out of the group.

“I know from being with Leicester it’s a tough place to go, we were in their pool for three of the five years I spent there. It’s a tough place to go and win but we did it one year.

“The emphasis is on us trying to concentrate on what we can do, hopefully if we do that, we can have a good shot of getting the result.”

Notwithstanding Ospreys’ desire for vengeance after their Limerick reverse.

“I know Tommy (Bowe) well and Mefin Davies from my time with Leicester and they were massively disappointed. They saw it as an opportunity. And we knew coming off the pitch it had been an opportunity for them as well. That’s why it was such a weird feeling. It’s important that we go over with the same attitude, to win. Whatever happens elsewhere with bonus points, we didn’t care, we need to win and set ourselves up for round five.”