Leamy: 'I trust the boys, 100 per cent, that they can go out there and get it 100 per cent right'

PRICELESS: If there is one weapon in this Munster make-up that looks priceless going into tomorrow’s Champions Cup pool clash at Exeter Chiefs it is the belief within the squad that such pressure-filled away days are not as daunting as they once were. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

If there is one weapon in this Munster make-up that looks priceless going into tomorrow’s Champions Cup pool clash at Exeter Chiefs it is the belief within the squad that such pressure-filled away days are not as daunting as they once were.

Last April and May’s season-ending, five-match unbeaten run on the road was all the more remarkable given it delivered a first piece of silverware in a dozen years. For a young squad in its first year under new management that was an almighty learning curve successfully negotiated in Cape Town, Durban, Glasgow, Dublin and one more time in Cape Town for the Grand Final against the Stormers.

And it could prove invaluable ahead of this trip to Sandy Park. At least Denis Leamy hopes that is the case.

“I think you draw on that,” Leamy said. “You can’t deny that we have gone to places, what was it, five results on road away from home on the run-in last year.

“That’s something you draw on. You definitely do. It’s there. We can’t deny it. We have done it. It’s the truth. It’s a fact. And it’s there.

“I think the boys will draw from results like that, definitely, and it gives us confidence that we can go and deliver a big performance.

“Look, I trust the boys, 100 per cent, that they can go out there and get it 100 per cent right.” 

Winning on the road could be necessary if Munster are to negotiate a pool in which the away teams in Pool 3 won twice (Exeter at Toulon, Northampton Saints at Glasgow) and drew once (Bayonne at Munster) in last weekend’s opening round.

"Interesting, isn't it?” Munster defence coach Denis Leamy said of the those positive outcomes for the away clubs. “That's probably not something that has happened before so it's group rugby but you take every game as it comes. Has that result changed what we would do in Exeter? Had we beaten Bayonne, would we be doing anything different this weekend? I don't think we would be.

"We'd still be going there with the same mindset - to go and execute a game plan that would win the game. It's really just about taking that game in isolation, as boring as it is, but actually being good enough in that 80 minutes to get enough points on the board and win the game.

"It's a big challenge. They had a great win in Toulon. They're obviously a team that's in transition, if you like. They had a hugely successful period over the last 10 years but it doesn't change what a difficult place Sandy Park is to go and what an atmosphere it is. It's great, it's going to be a great game."