Beirne: Leinster date gives reeling Munster perfect springboard  

Munster captain Tadhg Beirne after his side's defeat to Exeter Chiefs.

Tadhg Beirne insists the St Stephen’s Day URC clash with Leinster is the perfect opportunity for Munster to rebound from a difficult two weeks in the Champions Cup.

The URC champions return to Thomond Park next Tuesday night for a derby renewal with their old enemies after putting themselves in a tricky situation in their European pool campaign following a home draw with Bayonne and last Sunday’s 32-24 defeat at Exeter Chiefs. It was the latest setback in a rollercoaster run of results with the Pool 3 loss at Sandy Park a microcosm of Munster’s present inconsistency.

Graham Rowntree’s side scored four outstanding tries at the weekend through Calvin Nash, Tom Ahern, Antoine Frisch and Shane Daly to claim a try bonus point and a 24-13 lead over Exeter after 50 minutes before an implosion that saw them concede twice in four minutes just after the hour and then ship a fourth at the death that took away a losing bonus point.

It leaves Munster six points off the pace in a six-team pool led by two unbeaten English sides, Exeter and Northampton Saints, with only French giants Toulon beneath them in the table with two games remaining.

Munster will resume their Champions Cup campaign on January 13 at Toulon’s Stade Felix-Mayol before a home clash against the Saints to conclude the pool stage but they have two testing interprovincial derbies to negotiate before those, a New Year’s Day trip to Galway to face Connacht, and first up a return fixture with Leinster.

That is a chance to avenge last month’s Aviva Stadium narrow defeat and while interim captain Beirne acknowledges the number of elements to Munster’s game in need of improvement, he says the squad is relishing the opportunity to prove they are learning their lessons.

“It’s a great fixture for the fans and a great fixture for us as well,” Beirne said. “Full stadium to capacity in Thomond Park, unbelievable opportunity to bounce back from the last two weeks, which we were obviously pretty disappointed with.

“Even when we last played Leinster, we felt like we had opportunities there to beat them, so big week ahead. We will have to fix up a lot of things. We’re constantly saying we are learning from these games, but it’s probably time now we start showing it.” 

That 21-16 defeat on November 25 was another away day reverse that has marked a new campaign in stark contrast to Munster’s success on the road en route to the URC title. A draw at Benetton followed by defeats at Ulster, Leinster and Exeter represent a concerning pattern but head coach Rowntree said he was not worried by his side’s away form.

“I’d be concerned if they were all blowouts,” Rowntree said. “In all those games we were literally a score away. We were held up over the line in Ulster, Leinster we’re chasing the game at the end there but like today (against Exeter) we’re giving teams presents. ‘Have another one, merry Christmas, have another present’.

“Those moments we’ve got to get better at. Yeah, we’ve had changes, everyone’s got injuries, yeah, there’s still some young men learning but we’ll look at how we can wrestle back control and look at our composure in the last quarter of the game.”

Munster will need that composure to get any change out of Leinster, Connacht, Toulon or Northampton but neither Beirne nor Rowntree are throwing in the towel on chasing down a Champions Cup Round of 16 home draw for which a top-two pool finish is required.

“Yeah, look, we have been in tough positions before, and we will certainly back ourselves,” Beirne said. “Six points behind Northampton, we play Northampton, if we come away with a win, it’s a four-point turn there. If we come away with a bonus-point win, it’s a five-point turn there.

“So, there is obviously a lot of pressure on us to get victories in the last two games but that’s the situation we find ourselves in, and that’s the situation we are going to have to try get ourselves out of.” 

The Munster boss was similarly positive, adding: “Am I confident? It’s a strange format but I’ve learned to see how things are on the last night of the last pool game. We’ll see where we’re at and we’ll be gunning for it.

“You know what this tournament means to our club, we’ll be gunning for it. We’re gunning for every game. That’s all I can control.”