Munster fuelled for Paris trip by good results

Munster headed for Paris yesterday eager to move their Champions Cup ambitions forward and yet accompanied by the understandable impulse to revert back to October when they lost their colleague and friend Anthony Foley.

Coaches and players have already spoken this week of the need to find the right emotional balance for this afternoon’s delayed Champions Cup game at Stade Yves-du-Manoir, but such things are easier spoken about than achieved.

Rassie Erasmus and all at Munster at least know that such equilibrium is not beyond them.

Munster demonstrated with the unforgettable defeat of Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park the day after Foley’s funeral that they can channel their emotions successfully but players are human and a repeat is no guarantee.

More tangible is the run of form boosting morale for the journey to the continent.

Munster sit at the summit of the Guinness PRO12 table as we embark on the second-half of the season and victory here would leave them looking down on Racing, Leicester Tigers and Glasgow in Pool 1 of Europe’s premier competition.

Eleven wins and just the one defeat since that most personal of losses have imbued a renewed sense of community and confidence but Erasmus is emphatic that this is a team far removed from one capable of raising silverware come May.

“No, we have to go a while, a long way still,” said the Director of Rugby. “The reason for that is simply, not the size of the squad, but some guys will do well and some guys will struggle under pressure.

“Some guys play well away from home, others guys play better at home, and we have to learn all that together and understand one another. The game-plan should fit those guys.”

The South African made the adjoining point that Munster have yet to experience many pressure situations when big games were in the melting pot and they will need little reminding that they lost away to Leicester when that was very much the case.

That Welford Road reversal leaves them in need of nothing less than victory today and history, at least, is with them. Though they have lost on their last two visits to France, it is 1998 since that sequence stretched to three and more.

A win at Treviso aside, it is October of 2014, at Sale Sharks, since the province has won a meaningful European fixture away from Limerick and the tea leaves offer contradictory evidence in terms of what to expect this weekend.

With three defeats in their opening three games, Racing’s European adventure is already destined to be a truncated one after last season’s trek through to the final and their latest XV reflects as much.

Yet, while some of their supporters have thrown open their doors to Munster fans for this hastily reorganised trip, it remains to be seen how accommodating the hosts will ultimately be to the visitors’ ambitions inside the white lines.

Racing had won six Champions Cup fixtures on the bounce on their own turf before Glasgow halted that run in December but that hoary old cliche about French teams and the ‘spirit of the clock tower’ certainly hasn’t always applied here.

All told, the reigning Top 14 champions have lost 11 of their 21 European fixtures in Paris since first qualifying for what was then the Heineken Cup in 2010. Among their conquerors have been London Irish, Cardiff and Scarlets.

Leinster had their number on their tournament debut over six years ago now and so did Munster when they paid a visit four seasons ago. Even Ronan O’Gara, so long ensconced with the French club’s staff now, is unsure what Racing side will turn up.

“I started wandering down that line of thought, thinking about it, but then I thought what would it help?” said Erasmus this week.

“We can only control how well we train and play and I’m sure playing there, whatever team they put out, it is going to be a massive challenge for us. I am not sure what they are going to think.”

Whatever Racing, Munster’s rebirth this past two months has been astonishing and it bears reminding that Erasmus wasn’t completely pilloried for suggesting prior to this tournament that his side were maybe the weak link in the pool.

They are anything but and yet this fixture, whatever Racing’s motivation levels, will indicate exactly how far the Erasmus project has advanced. If they can atone for the careless loss to Leicester then it will be a clear indication of growth.

“We are obviously a year to two behind other more established squad,” said Erasmus. “This weekend, maybe on Monday we will be able to say how we are sitting in Europe because the (numbers of) games will have been even.”