Hurley will draw on memories of Ulster mauling
So when Ulster come to Thomond Park for this evening’s Magners League clash, it will not take much to take Hurley back to a dark day in Limerick two years ago.
Hurley was full-back when Munster suffered a 37-11 mauling by the Ulstermen and starting as a wing tonight, he will try and channel those memories into positivity for this latest encounter.
“We’d had such a long history of not losing at home and that day, especially against a home province, for Ulster to come down and beat us by such a margin, to say the least it was a fairly muted dressing room after,” Hurley recalled.
“That was very hard to pick yourself up after that loss so for any of us that were involved that day it’s definitely going to be in the back of our minds and we don’t want a repeat of that performance.
“So winning this weekend is all that we’re looking for at this moment.”
Having already secured a valuable Magners League away win this week at Connacht, Hurley, who ended that game at number eight with Niall Ronan in the sin bin, is not about to rest on any laurels heading into the Ulster clash. That’s unlikely to happen, particularly having not scored a try in 15 appearances since March 26, when he touched down for the last time in a Magners League game against Glasgow Warriors.
“It’s been a bit of a while now, a bit of a drought, so I think it’s time now I try and got one on the board.
“I suppose the weather hasn’t helped the last while and being on the bench for the two Heineken Cup games (in December).
“So I suppose I’ve to try and get in the starting team a bit more and scoring a few tries might help that.”
A score against Ulster would suit player and province, but first Hurley believes Munster have to concentrate on stopping the visitors impose their game.
“They’re a very dangerous side in many parts of the park. They’ve a very strong pack, they’ve some great ball carriers and a back line that can do damage, so it’s going to be another night where we absolutely have to be on our toes.
“We’re going to have to be on top form to hold them out.
“Our priority has to be to keep them out because if they start getting any hint of half-breaks or anything like that they could turn us inside out.
“I think we remember from two years ago when they beat us in Thomond Park, that was a day when we gave them those half-breaks and they pounced on them and killed us.
“So they can be very dangerous. But it’s up to us how much legroom we give them to play against us and hopefully we’ll kill their game.”
Munster return to Thomond Park for the first time since beating the Ospreys on December 12. Since then, the Welsh gained revenge in the return Heineken Cup tie in Swansea and Munster’s European campaign now must win the remaining two Pool Three ties, in Toulon on January 16 and at home to London Irish six days later, to ensure progress.
Hurley sees tonight’s game as a chance to get Munster fans in the mood for an important month ahead.
“I know it can be hard to watch your team lose a match but we’re still top of the Magners League and we’re still in a very strong position in the Heineken Cup to come out of the pool stage. So it’s a not a time to be too disgruntled.
“This weekend is another opportunity for us to be able to play a team on our home ground nd be able to display exactly what we’re about.
“Last weekend we did that when we went up to Connacht, a very tough place to go, and still came away with a victory when we could very easily have lost the match.
“There’s still a lot of steel behind Munster and I hope the fans will come out and push behind us again.”
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