Ryan: Absolutely no doubt Munster will bounce back

Munster second row Donnacha Ryan believes the province can rectify what when wrong last weekend against Cardiff Blues when they run out in Murrayfield for their Heineken Cup meeting with Edinburgh on Sunday (12.45pm).

Rob Penney’s men scarcely threatened the Cardiff line in Musgrave Park on Saturday, losing 6-17 to a Blues outfit struggling for form this season.

On an evening when Ronan O’Gara set a new all-time appearance record for the region, the home side looked woefully out of sorts in attack and only managed two penalties from the boot of the veteran outhalf.

The result heaps more pressure on Munster ahead of this weekend’s Heineken Cup clash with Edinburgh which is a must win for the two-time champions who currently sit third in Pool 1.

While he admits the performance against Cardiff was unacceptable, Tipperary man Ryan is adamant Munster can turn things around this weekend in Murrayfield.

“I have absolutely no doubt we can,” he said. “In that game we knocked on the ball a lot.”

“Set piece didn't function as we would have liked and we ran into touch so many times.

“You're releasing pressure on the opposition when you do that and so we didn't give ourselves much of a chance.

“The answers to all that are within us. It's a case of making the decision to attack in the areas we need to attack and following through with precision and accuracy.

“We didn't do that last weekend.”

Edinburgh may have enjoyed a record-breaking season last year as they became the first Scottish side to reach a Heineken Cup semi-final but they have struggled to back that up this season.

Michael Bradley’s men have lost all four European games this season, leaking eleven tries without scoring a single one, leaving them with a points difference of -100.

But with the likes of Greig Laidlaw, Tim Visser and Dave Denton in their ranks they boast enough quality to punish Munster if they perform as they did against Cardiff.

As far as Ryan is concerned Munster must not dwell on the disappointment of last weekend but switch focus to the challenge at hand.

“Obviously we were very disappointed to lose last weekend, especially to lose at home in front of our own crowd,” he said.

“But this is a different competition this week. Different focus for us and certainly there's no point in us dwelling too long on it, be really positive.

“We did a lot of good things last weekend. We just need to be a lot more clinical when we do get in the right areas.

“We are under no illusions what is required this weekend.

“We'll look to our performance first and foremost and take it from there really.”