Racing’s Mannix backs Toulon to end Munster dream
Fresh from a tough, physical 15-12 victory over the Toulonnais in Paris last Sunday night, Racing Metro backs coach and former All Black Simon Mannix endorsed Philippe Saint-Andre’s side to fend off the Irish province in what will be a must-win Pool Three game for Munster at Stade Mayol.
“I think Toulon can beat Munster, without a doubt,” former Sale and Gloucester fly-half Mannix told the Irish Examiner. “If we look at Munster, it’s certainly not the Munster we’ve known over the past seven or eight years in Heineken Cup rugby. That said, they still are a very organised side and well coached but Toulon have got more than enough ammunition to knock them over at the Mayol down in Toulon.
“It’s a huge game for the Toulonnais and for French rugby and if I can put on my French rugby hat, I hope they can do the job.”
Mannix, an assistant coach to Pierre Berbizier, has been with Racing since 2007 and helped them gain promotion to the Top 14 in 2009. Their narrow victory over Toulon on Sunday night, all the points having been kicked, moved them into second place in the French table, just two points behind Toulouse.
“We got the four points and we showed a bit of guts in the second half and we had to, because in the first half we were poor,” he said. “Second half, we really stuck to it, the boys applied themselves and we were glad to get the four points.”
Attention now turns to Europe, where Racing and Clermont Auvergne trail Leinster by five points in Pool Two. There is no doubt the Top 14 is where Racing’s priorities lie this season but a win in Clermont tonight and a reverse for Leinster at home to the already eliminated Saracens tomorrow would keep Racing’s hopes of progression alive heading into the final round against the 2009 champions.
Mannix, though, preferred to wait until after this weekend to assess the fallout.
“The cards will all be distributed next week and we’ll know exactly where we stand. Sorry to say, we’ve got to take it one game at a time, not get ahead of ourselves and all that. But to be honest, we can’t look ahead much further than that.”
What has been noted about Leinster, though, is their continued good form under Joe Schmidt and, from a French viewpoint, their ability to utilise their whole squad during the Magners League campaign.
“It’s no surprise. Leinster are a quality outfit and they have the beauty, possibly, of a championship that allows them to rotate their players a little bit more, to rest and build for the key games which are obviously the Heineken Cup,” Mannix said.
“That’s something that we’re all pretty envious of but you see the willingness that was out there (on Sunday night) and Toulon have got to back up and play Munster after that. But those Toulon boys didn’t leave anything in the tank out there, they came out firing and certainly didn’t have one eye on next week.
“In this championship you just can’t and it’s a tough, tough championship. It’s a tough grind week in, week out and then you’ve got to front up for the Heineken Cup but that’s what it’s about. We know that and we’re not going to complain.”
Racing were stung by Leinster in their very first taste of Heineken Cup rugby last October at the RDS but Mannix is certain his side is much improved from that showing in a 38-22 defeat.
“I’d like to think we’d be totally different because we were rat sh*t in Dublin. We gifted all the points. We were in the game at 6-3 after 30 minutes and then with our mistakes we took ourselves out of the game.
“We’ve improved as a side and certainly we don’t have the same injury levels that we had at that time of the season. That’s not an excuse but I think, hopefully, we can be competitive.
“I believe we have developed since Dublin. We’ve had a few more Heineken Cup games along the way and one would hope we would be right for Leinster to give them a warm welcome.”
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