Leinster eye ‘six in the sticks’
“It has been a great campaign but we have a savage run-in,” acknowledged Munster’s big game specialist Doug Howlett yesterday. “Leinster, the Ospreys, Llanelli and Connacht in the Magners League; there’s absolutely no room for mistakes, we’ve got to take them one game at a time and target the points from each,” he said.
And that’s before the country’s leading provinces turn their attention to the small matter of european combat next Saturday. Leinster coach Joe Schmidt cannot be accused of eyeing anything beyond tonight’s grudgefest, naming his strongest XV. It’s a sentiment Howlett agrees with.
“Leinster have been on top of us quite a bit of late — five wins in five — but these are the ones you want to play in. This is first v second, with a lot at stake, and we want to win. Last week’s victory over Cardiff was all about the result and this will be the same. There were positives to take out of it but we can push those a little more, especially the first half hour of a game where there was a real excitement and a real buzz about the team. These are the things we’ve been highlighting this week, more so than the latter part of the game.”
Howlett winces at the mention of five consecutive Leinster victories. “Results speak for themselves obviously. It hurt to lose by a point last season but in Cardiff (last Friday) we were on the other side of the coin, winning by a point. All teams pride themselves on their home records, not least Munster with the record we have at Thomond. It’s one we would like to protect, maintain and enhance.”
Munster lock Donncha O’Callaghan was even more to the point: “We can’t run away from it. They’ve beaten us the last five games. Does that bother us? Course it does. But the game tomorrow is all about just that. It’s about getting the points because we want a home semi-final and after this one, we have two games in Wales and then the game against Connacht.
“(Leinster) are a good side right across the pitch. They have been for a good period now. We haven’t beaten them in a while but there’s been very little in it in the last three games. One try scored in each of those games and they scored them and basically that’s been the difference in the end.”
Howlett has soldiered with enough of the game’s luminaries to appreciate the difference Paul O’Connell brings to the Munster cause, and the small things he can change in a game of such magnitude. But the new red wave of Munster talent brings an interesting added dimension to matters tonight.
“Paul is more and more influential and he will only get better with game time; he’s a class player, a wonderful player to be lining out with and the guy our players will follow (him into battle). “But the likes of Felix Jones, Conor Murray, they’re class young players, amongst some of the guys who have been able to put their hands up during the Six Nations window. The signs are very encouraging.”
The Garryowen scrum-half gets the nod ahead of Peter Stringer against Leinster, but Howlett believes it’s a horses for courses selection.
“It’s tactical, a recognition we have two players that can play different styles of half back rugby. You would have to talk to the coaches about selection but I feel we have diversification; we have to have belief in our players and he (Murray) has proven to himself and the rest of us that he can hack it at this level. This game will hopefully be another step for him.
“Felix is certainly someone to watch; besides his natural ability he will work all day for you. In his rehabilitation (from both neck and knee injuries), he has shown he will do anything to get back on the field and his attitude is the same once he is on the field. A string of games will prove how good he is.”
Brian O’Driscoll returns to the Leinster line-up alongside Gordon D’Arcy, with fly-half Jonathan Sexton also back from Six Nations duty and ready to start as Leinster hunt for a sixth win in a row over Munster.
On that matter, asked by Newstalk’s Dave McIntyre, if the Leinster lads had brought that stat up during the Six Nations, Munster’s David Wallace paused thoughtfully: “Actually, no, not at all. They were probably too wary of giving us anything to zero in on.”
Tin hats on, everyone.
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