Kyriacou aiming to carry momentum from Crusaders win

WELCOME RETURN: Munster will be hoping the returns of RG Snyman and Mike Haley and an injection of experience can finally deliver a URC away win when they go to Scarlets. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Munster will be hoping the returns of RG Snyman and Mike Haley and an injection of experience can finally deliver a URC away win when they go to Scarlets tonight (7:35pm) and kick-start a climb up the league table.

With no wins in four URC excursions outside the province in 2023-24 and only four of their remaining nine regular season URC matches to be played at home, now would be a very good time to starting winning on the road and emulating that remarkable run of away success that delivered a first trophy in a dozen years last May.

That Munster’s most recent away day, five weeks ago, delivered a Champions Cup pool win at Toulon suggests a squad more than capable of securing valuable league points away from Cork and Limerick. Graham Rowntree has lost the services of his frontline Ireland players to Six Nations duty since that visit to Stade Felix Mayol but the comebacks from injury of full-back Haley and South African double World Cup winner Snyman for a seasonal debut in west Wales this evening, plus the release of Ireland squad members Oli Jager, Jeremy Loughman and Conor Murray gives the head coach some serious firepower at his disposal in Munster’s bid to climb back up the URC table.

The defending champions will go into this round 10 clash in Llanelli, west Wales a point outside the top eight play-off spots in 11th position on the 16-team table with Dwayne Peel’s Scarlets having an even worse time of it this season, with just two wins in nine, home and away against Cardiff. A 57-19 hammering last week in a friendly at Exeter Chiefs will hardly have restored confidence so Munster’s restoration of some heavy-duty experience may be just what is required to ignite the second half of the season.

“It all helps, doesn’t it?” forwards coach Andi Kyriacou said of the addition of Snyman, Haley and company, though he added: “But I think we’ve shown in previous games this season and last year we’ve got huge faith and trust in lads who don’t have that CV yet in terms of the experience and international experience they’ve got.

“But they’re quality players and really invested in what we’re doing, so yeah, it’s great to have them back and I’m sure they’ll be raring to go to put their best foot forward for us on Friday night.” 

A first senior start for back-rower Ruadhan Quinn at blindside flanker in a trio with 22-year-old captain Alex Kendellen on the openside and Gavin Coombes at No.8 suggests that faith in youth is ongoing. Rowntree’s selection of two more academy players on the bench in two more academy players in scrum-half Ethan Coughlan and wing Shay McCarthy underlines that perception. Both Coughlan and McCarthy started the Pairc Ui Chaoimh victory over Super Rugby champions Crusaders almost two weeks ago in a game that saw Kendellen handed the captaincy for the first time.

Starting hooker Niall Scannell and lock Tom Ahern both missed that historic clash of the champions to add further backbone to the Munster pack while Haley joins a backline anchored with Murray at scrum-half and Joey Carbery at number 10 with Kyriacou insisting Munster are primed to kick on from the 21-19 win on Leeside.

“We got huge positives from that game in terms of momentum we want to carry on. That’s why we put it in the calendar, to give us that momentum going into these league games.” 

Yet the forwards coach did not underplay the task in front of them at Parc Y Scarlets, even if their form suggest otherwise. Invoking Scarlets’ comeback in Cork last season from 35-7 down at half-time that had Munster hanging on for a 49-42 win in a 13-try thriller, Kyriacou said: “We’ve got massive respect for them in terms of what they did against us last season.

“They are a team that are deadly with the unstructured side of the game. They’ve got good ball carriers, a lot of offload threats to keep the ball alive as well. They’re good on the edges in terms of the way they swing their attack into the edges on the field and they’re tough lads. They’re proud lads, of their club, of the area they come from and so we can respect that a lot.

“We know we’re going to have to be right on it, mentally and physically for Friday night.” 

SCARLETS: J McNicholl; T Lewis, J Roberts, E James, I Nicholas; D Jones, A Hughes; K Mathias, E Swart, H O’Connor; A Craig, S Lousi – captain; J Taylor, D Davis, V Fifita.

Replacements: H Thomas, W Jones, S Wainwright, J Price, T Leatherbarrow, E Jones, C Titcombe, S Evans.

MUNSTER: M Haley; S O’Brien, A Frisch, A Nankivell; S Daly; J Carbery, C Murray; J Loughman, N Scannell, O Jager; T Ahern, RG Snyman; R Quinn, A Kendellen - captain, G Coombes.

Replacements: E Clarke, J Wycherley, J Ryan, F Wycherley, J O’Sullivan, E Coughlan, R Scannell, S McCarthy.

Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)