Penney tells Reds make tackles count

Munster head coach Rob Penney has demanded his players not fall into the same trap Leinster did when they were dominated by Toulon as they prepare to stop the Heineken Cup champions in their tracks in tomorrow’s semi-final showdown in Marseille.

Leinster missed a whopping 26 tackles in their quarter-final at Stade Felix Mayol earlier this month as the rampaging Toulon heavyweights such as the compact but powerful pocket battleships – centre Mathieu Bastareaud and No. 8 Steffon Armitage – ran roughshod over Matt O’Connor’s side in a 29-14 mauling.

Penney has demanded the missed tackle count remains in single figures and has drafted tenacious openside flanker Sean Dougall into his back row at the expense of Tommy O’Donnell for the massive challenge of stopping Toulon secure a second successive final berth at Stade Vélodrome tomorrow.

“We’ve seen evidence that if you go high you’re going to get damaged, if you go low they’re going to push you off or get an off-load,” Penney said of Toulon’s ball carriers.

“There’s certainly a lot of things around the defence that are critical to preventing them from getting their game going and it’s not just one thing, there’s a multitude of strategies that we’re going to need to employ.

“They’re not all the same for each individual either, that just makes things more challenging as well.

At the end of the day, if I’m going to make a tackle I’ve got to make sure I make it. If the stats sheet reads we’ve missed 10/12% of our tackles, then we’re not going to be anywhere near it.”

Dougall, whose last Heineken Cup action was in the pool win at Perpignan in December before an ankle injury disrupted his season, is one of two changes from the side which comprehensively defeated Toulouse in the quarter-finals, with CJ Stander continuing to deputise for captain Peter O’Mahony at blindside flanker.

Hooker Damien Varley captains the side in O’Mahony’s absence while O’Donnell drops to the bench, which also includes fit again loosehead prop James Cronin and fly-half JJ Hanrahan, who made the team flight to Marseille yesterday having completed a remarkable recovery from a groin injury suffered against Glasgow two weeks ago.

There is no place in the 23-man squad, though, for Ireland lock Donnacha Ryan, who had returned to training following a foot injury suffered against Treviso in March but did not get through a final assessment made after yesterday morning’s training session at Thomond Park.