Scarlets pack is O’Connell’s main concern
The skipper is wary of the threat posed by Welsh stars Rhys Priestland and walking wounded George North and Jonathan Davies, following their exploits in New Zealand but has highlighted the ability of the Scarlets pack, where Irish flanker Simon Easterby leads the charge, as his biggest cause of concern.
“Obviously you have guys like Priestland, Davies and North which will give us something to focus on; they were probably the stars for Wales in the World Cup,” he said.
“[But] they did really well in the scrum against Northampton, they have a good lineout and they’ve been playing as a unit now for a while. The World Cup hasn’t disrupted them that much, they don’t have to rest players [as decreed by the Welsh Rugby Union], so they’ve been playing together quite a bit and they’ve done really well up front.
“Simon Easterby is involved with them and he’s a guy we would know well. I would have had great respect for Simon as a player, I know what he is made up of and he is mentally very strong; he will look to have instilled that in the [current] players. They’re a very good forward unit; any team that can go away to Northampton, win well and pick up a bonus point has to have a serious pack.”
O’Connell expects another serious Heineken Cup battle based on past experience.
“Yeah, we’ve had some tough battles against them as well, they beat us in the quarter-final over there when we were quite poor and we did well then to get back-to-back results against them after that.
“I was injured for them but I remember being over there on a really wet night and Munster put in a great performance to win the game and it really put us in a strong position. There have been some great games, same too in the Pro12, and it will probably be no different this weekend.”
The big second row hasn’t even contemplated the notion of revenge following Ireland’s World Cup quarter-final defeat against a Welsh team driven on by Scarlets players.
“I haven’t thought that way at all. I suppose this year we have focused on ourselves, we have a lot of injuries, we have a few guys who have retired and the team has changed so we have had to focus on ourselves more.
“When we lost to Leinster before those last two Heineken Cup games we just focused on ourselves and what we needed change and get right after that game. That’s where we are now again after the Ospreys result, I suppose we’ll be looking at trying to address some of the things that went wrong in that game.”
This is make-or-break time for many clubs in European competition, with two games against the same opposition providing an opportunity to strengthen pre-Christmas standings. And while Munster and the Scarlets are still unbeaten, O’Connell conceded the next two games will have a big bearing on both clubs’ season.
“They’re unique in a rugby season; it’s the only time you get this [back-to-back games] apart maybe from summer tours. Yeah, they’re strange types of games in the sense you’re away one week and home the next, so the whole mentality can change on that.
“Looking down the road and having to go away to Northampton, we need every point we can get, if we can pick up something away from home this weekend, it would be brilliant.”
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