Edinburgh ready to open up, says coach Bradley

As a man of Munster but also head coach of Edinburgh, Michael Bradley is drawing encouragement from both teams ahead of tomorrow’s crucial Heineken Cup clash at Thomond Park.

The Cork native steered Edinburgh to an all-time tournament best by a Scottish side when they reached the semi-finals of Europe playing a dynamic brand of rugby in his first campaign last season.

And he believes that Munster have recognised that they, too, need to adapt to the higher tempo modern game.

However while they are still in transitional mode Bradley believes there may be a chance for his men to produce a rare upset in Limerick.

“Munster are now playing an exciting brand of rugby which will be good for them and good for their fans,” he said.

“It’s a game that we would be quite familiar with at Edinburgh but then Munster have the natural aggression and power up front, so it’s a good combination. However they’re probably less experienced in playing that sort of style as Edinburgh so they’re in their learning phase at the moment and all the information from them and their comments are in that vein. It’s good Munster have decided to move away from nine, 10-man, position-orientated rugby because the game has moved on. Leinster have shown the way in recent times and Clermont on their day can be stunning, so I think Munster have recognised that.

“It will be a different type game from the normal games that Edinburgh and Munster play. If Munster are true to their, inverted commas, new style and we can play the way we can play, then it should be a cracking, open and free-flowing game, so that gives us an opportunity. It changes the picture a little bit because when you normally go to Thomond Park you expect them to tuck the ball up the jersey and you won’t see it for 80 minutes. Now that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

In trying to convince his men that they can claim the win that can resurrect their tournament bid after last week’s 45-0 Murrayfield thrashing at the hands of English Premiership side Saracens, Bradley pointed to what happened to Munster in their last Heineken Cup match on home soil.

“I think Ulster showed the way last year in the quarter-final by putting it out to Munster, particularly in the first 20 minutes,” he said.

“They held onto the ball and were quite physical with them. That is the way we want to start and that’s the kind of position we want to be in after 20 minutes.

“You have to go for the game. History will show the majority of sides that go to Thomond Park don’t go for the game, they go for the point and you’re just wasting your time doing that.”

Bradley, who will have alongside him as forwards coach Neil Back, the man responsible for one of the most controversial moments in Munster and Heineken Cup history when he knocked the ball illegally from Peter Stringer’s hands at a scrum to help Leicester win the 2002 final, feels it is no coincidence that Ulster needed to win that game as much as Munster did.

He clearly sees similarities, then, with what confronts his men psychologically since they know they must win every remaining pool match.

“We would have preferred to have won last week with a bonus point, to make it easier for ourselves but it’s not, so if you’re going to get a victory at Thomond Park, with our backs against the wall we have to go for the match,” he suggested. “A lot of sides go there with the intention of going for a bonus point and just hanging in. A lot of the French and English sides have done that in the past and that’s just the wrong psyche to be going there. You have to take Munster on.”