Reds must grab that bonus

Such is the plot being outlined as Heineken Cup Pool 6 leaders Munster gallop towards Kingsholm to confront a side battered and beleaguered after a thorough going over on the same ground by Saracens last weekend. A bonus-point victory this evening will see Munster charge into the knockout stages a week ahead of schedule, but, given their inconsistency of performance in recent weeks and the still precarious balance of this European group, that is a storyline that will only have been considered by the most optimistic of the Red Army.

Munster can and should win at Gloucester tonight but if the events and exploits of the last month alone have taught us anything, nothing is a given.

Last-gasp wins over Perpignan in round four and in the league over Scarlets, as well as less than convincing performances in victory over the French Catalans in round three and Rabo rivals Connacht over Christmas, pointed to a team big on character and with the resilience to eke out success even when not playing well.

Last weekend’s first-half horror show and subsequent defeat at Ulster signified that Munster will only get away with it for so long and there will be a massive emphasis on not allowing Gloucester the fast start they afforded the northern province at Ravenhill.

Ulster’s jumping out to a 20-point first-half lead in Belfast ultimately proved too big a deficit to claw back despite the best efforts of the Munster pack, which rumbled in formidable style to score two second-half tries off rolling mauls. And it says much for Munster that, had Ian Keatley’s exceptionally off-day with the boot not been allied to a couple of harsh refereeing decisions that handed Ulster a crucial three points and denied the southerners a potential game-levelling seven in the final 10 minutes, then the visitors might have left Ravenhill with a victory that would have stretched their winning streak to 10.

That it did not materialise will do Munster’s European ambitions no harm, rather defeat has steeled the minds and kept Rob Penney’s players focused on today’s encounter.

“I think the outcome at Ravenhill was disappointing, the performance was even more disappointing and on the back of that the boys have turned up (in training), obviously switched on, so we think we have prepared quite well,” Penney said this week.

Keatley endured possibly his worst game in a Munster jersey last weekend and all eyes will be on the fly-half as he seeks to regain his composure in the most testing of atmospheres at a sold-out Kingsholm. Having scrum-half Conor Murray on his inside shoulder will do Keatley a power of good for the Ireland number nine’s presence has been sorely missed. That is no disrespect to a more than able stand-in in Cathal Sheridan but such has Murray’s confidence and all-around game grown this season on back of a great British & Irish Lions tour last summer that his experience and talent is now a cornerstone of any success that comes Munster’s way. For while the pack has dug the province out of many a hole in the last season, the backline has been lacking the sort of authority Murray now brings and has been essential since the retirements of Doug Howlett and Ronan O’Gara.

Murray’s inclusion should unburden Keatley from the pressure of looking after a less-experienced scrum-half and if he continues to struggle his lack of form is less likely to have a detrimental effect on his half-back partner than it perhaps had on Sheridan against Ulster before injury struck.

With their half-backs effectively out of the game and Ulster proving so strong in defence, Munster struggled to get any go forward ball and resorted to the sort of lateral rugby that so frustrates fans and coaches alike.

So the return to fitness of Murray, inside centre James Downey and wing Keith Earls to the starting line-up as well as the inclusion of Simon Zebo on the bench after 12 weeks on the sidelines should bring some much-needed attacking directness to Munster. They will also be required to up Munster’s kicking game because Ulster clinically exploited some really poor tactical kicking and Gloucester have an equally adept counter-attacking back three in Jonny May, Charlie Sharples and full-back Martyn Thomas to expose Munster’s defences.

With a pitch likely to still be sodden after the recent deluges of rain, Penney expects nothing less than an aerial battle between the sides from the first whistle and is demanding an accurate kick-chase from his players.

“They have got the ability to rip you up from broken play,” he said of Gloucester, “they have got speed, pace and agility and interplay skills that are very dangerous so you couple those things together and we are going to have to be very wary.

“But at least we are going in with our eyes wide open, we can’t be ambushed in that and if we don’t front it can’t be that the players weren’t forewarned because we have talked about it and discussed it. But I don’t think that will be the case, the boys are in pretty good shape. It will be a very interesting first part of the game I suspect.”

The Cherry and Whites may be reeling from their at-home hammering last weekend – director of rugby Nigel Davies admitted his side had not turned up mentally or physically against Saracens — but Munster must be prepared for the backlash and will expect it right from the very first whistle.

“We’ve been quite tight as a group this week and we’ve needed to be,” Davies said, “but it’s very much about not talking about what we’re going to do, we’ve just got to go and do it.

“We have got to start well, of course we have, but we’re looking at different things and how we can go about that, but more than that if we don’t start well it’s not the end of the world. We’ve got to make sure that we stay in games and we’re competitive. We did neither last Saturday.”

If there’s one thing Munster do well it is making sure they stay competitive, even when their game has gone to pot. That Gloucester are striving to unravel the code that Penney’s men have already cracked could be enough to steer Munster to an invaluable away victory at Kingsholm. Whether they have it within them to win in style and secure a bonus point appears still to be in the lap of the gods.