Graham Rowntree: 'I am confident, do you know why? I trust the group'
Graham Rowntree knows the threats Leinster will pose his Munster side at Thomond Park tonight as the old rivals lock horns in the URC for the second time inside five weeks. The Reds head coach is also acutely aware of the various flaws in his own team that have been exposed in that same period, different opponents unpicking a new thread in a variety of seams from match to match.
And yet there is a strong sense of self-belief inside Munster’s High Performance Centre right now, borne of their run to the URC title last May and strengthened by signs of a rapidly evolving and exciting attacking gameplan which has also been on display in recent times.
Which means Rowntree will watch his side take the field in front of a sell-out St Stephen’s night crowd assured his squad has learned the harsh lessons of last Sunday at Exeter in particular, and fixed those flaws sufficiently well to have faith they can deliver a first home victory over their interprovincial neighbours in five years.
Having bemoaned Munster’s lapses in composure in their Champions Cup pool clash at Sandy Park last weekend that allowed the Chiefs to rally from 24-13 down with 20 minutes remaining to win 32-14, the boss was equally buoyed by their potency with ball in hand.
Ally that to a close-run thing against Leinster in their 21-16 loss at Aviva Stadium on November 25 and his optimism sounded well-placed.
“I am confident, do you know why? I trust the group,” Rowntree said. “We did some very good things in Exeter. Sixty-three minutes we were still ahead, having scored four tries, and then what happened happened. We've had a look at that, and had a look at the composure, but we still scored four tries, we still scored 12 tries in the last three games. We're doing a lot of good things, and we'll need those good things in our next game.”
Rowntree was forensic in response to a further enquiry about that lack of composure against the English Premiership side, in failing to execute further try-scoring opportunities and also inviting pressure back on in defence, easy access converted into Exeter’s come-from-behind tries and the disappearance of even a losing bonus point in an increasingly tight-looking Pool 3 table.
“It’s learning. We have to learn from it. You look at some of our composure bits from the last quarter of the game… those pieces, that’s composure, because with 63 minutes we were on our game but we’ve just got to better in those moments, particularly in a game where in the second half we hadn’t had a lot of possession. We didn’t see the ball a lot in that second half and we were into a swirling wind as well.
“We certainly reviewed it. We had quite a strong review, the lads are honest enough and put their hand up and then we got out and practiced it and we’ve certainly done that.”
Leinster may be hit harder by the standing down of several of Ireland’s recent World Cup squad members under IRFU player welfare guidelines, Rowntree denied the availability of both Tadhg Beirne and Conor Murray while Peter O’Mahony remains injured alongside South African duo Jean Kleyn and Dublin-bound RG Snyman. Opposite number Leo Cullen, meanwhile must do without Robbie Henshaw and Jimmy O’Brien from his backline options as well as forwards Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and co-captain James Ryan as well as a still absent Tadhg Furlong.
Yet Munster know better than anyone just what Leinster’s so-called second string are capable of and for Rowntree, it is irrelevant who is filling those blue jerseys, particularly now World Cup-winning Springbok head coach and defensive guru Jacques Nienaber has joined Cullen’s coaching ticket.
“Threats? They have threats everywhere. They have power threats in the maul, giving them access to our tryline will be a challenge not to do that, because they have a good maul and hookers who like breaking from mauls. Kicking a bit more then they have been. They've increased their linespeed, but they've got some incredible ball carriers across the whole team, and they'll challenge us in most areas.
“They have threats everywhere; power game, attacking the seams, their phase-attack has nice little shapes inside and outside of 10. They play quick as well. That's pretty much it. Apart from all that, they're quite a boring team.” It will be a tall order to get back to winning ways against this Leinster side, even on home turf yet Rowntree understands the value of Munster achieving their objective tonight to close out a historic year on another high.
“You're always trying to win the next game, in whatever competition, and against the Irish international team - as it turns out they can roll out when they want to - but it would be huge for us.
“We have momentum even with the defeat from the weekend. I'd be worried if we weren't creating chances and scoring tries, and weren't doing good stuff. It would be a great scalp for us to take them on Stephen's Day at Thomond.”
S Zebo; C Nash, A Frisch, A Nankivell, S Daly; J Crowley, C Casey; D Kilcoyne, D Barron - captain, O Jager; E Edogbo, G Coombes; T Ahern, J Hodnett, J O’Donoghue.
E Clarke, J Loughman, S Archer, B Gleeson, A Kendellen, P Patterson, T Butler, S O’Brien.
H Keenan; J Larmour, G Ringrose – captain, C Frawley, R Russell; H Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, R Kelleher, M Ala’alatoa; R Molony, J McCarthy; M Deegan, S Penny, J Conan.
D Sheehan, E Byrne, T Clarkson, J Jenkins, R Baird, L McGrath, L Turner, W Connors.
Andrew Brace (IRFU) end
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
