Munster face off against Saints side in top form

NEXT ASSIGNMENT: Munster's Jack Crowley walks down the tunnel after the game. Pic: Ben Brady, Inpho

URC: Munster 20 Cardiff Blues 15

The contrast in performances were miles apart, literally and metaphorically, as Munster and Northampton Saints gear up for a renewal of their rich European rivalry at Franklin’s Gardens next Sunday.

In the English East Midlands on Friday night, Saints were in electric form as they ran five tries past Premiership title rivals Saracens to consolidate their place at the top of the table, five points clear of Johann van Graan’s Bath in second.

Twenty four hours later at Thomond Park, Munster just about scraped past lowly Cardiff with a performance Graham Rowntree admitted was one to forget and quickly move on from.

The Munster head coach promised he would not overanalyse a scrappy, error-strewn affair when he reconvenes his squad at the province’s High Performance Centre at UL Monday morning. Yet as he reflected on a hard-fought fourth URC victory in a row, he acknowledged his team would need to raise their levels by some distance if they are to have a hope of successfully negotiating this upcoming Champions Cup Round of 16 knockout tie. He also advanced evidence that such a performance is well within this Munster squad.

“It will take a huge performance. Our best performance, that would be nice,” Rowntree said.

“Away in Europe I think of three quarters of the game against Exeter, you think of the Toulon game. It’s undeniable that we can play. We are going to have to play next week and contain them. They are dangerous.

“It sits in its own little world, a knock-out European game like that against a leading English club. That is going to get the juices going for a lot of Munster men. I’ll promise you that.”

If Munster can harness the defiant rearguard they produced on their last visit to Franklin’s Garden in December 2022, Rowntree believes it will go a long way to reaching the quarter-finals in two weeks. After taking a 17-6 half-time lead, Munster survived an exhausting second half defending their own tryline in the face of a Saints onslaught and three yellow cards. A similar spirit and physicality is required this time around, the boss said, if Munster are to stay alive to visit the winners of the Bulls-Lyon clash at Loftus Versfeld a week later.

“Double yellow card in the last quarter. I think Gav (Coombes) made upwards of 30-something tackles in the game. We withstood a load of goal-line pressure in the last quarter of the game. That was a massive performance for us, not really spoken about enough. That was very impressive, something similar to that in terms of our energy, our want is needed this week.”

Munster will also need greater control and accuracy than was displayed for long periods of Saturday’s clunker with Cardiff. It did maintain their winning run as they reclaimed fourth place in the table with five games to go, thanks to second-half tries from skipper Tadhg Beirne and man of the match Jack Crowley but it also saw them unable wrestle dominance from a feisty Cardiff side who matched their hosts try for try in that second period, Crowley’s goal-kicking ultimately proving the difference.

As far as the league is concerned, Munster are where they need to be, in the top four and in possession of a home play-off quarter-final at the end of the regular season in June. Yet just as the events of 12 months ago unfolded, a lot can happen between now and then and a trip to South Africa for rounds 14 and 15, both at altitude against the Bulls and Lions, in Pretoria and Johannesburg, represents the toughest of challenges.

Rowntree refused to look beyond the Saints Champions Cup assignment when asked to assess Munster’s prospects of securing a home draw in the URC’s last eight.

“Next game, next game. We go to South Africa. When we do go to South Africa we might be going a bit earlier hopefully with European permutations.

“I think the addition of the South Africans in this league now has changed it. What you can get down in South Africa particularly at altitude is massive. You look at the form of the Lions, not to mention the Bulls and how good they are, but you look at the form of the Lions of recent weeks.

“They are our next two URC games, the Bulls and the Lions away. We will deal with that in two weeks’ time. Game by game.”

MUNSTER: M Haley (S Zebo, 72); S O’Brien, A Frisch, A Nankivell (J Carbery, 56), S Daly; J Crowley, C Casey (E Coughlan, 75); J Loughman (J Wycherley, 65), N Scannell (E Clarke, 65), S Archer (J Ryan, 57); T Ahern (A Kendellen, 70), T Beirne, capt; P O’Mahony (J Daly, 75), J Hodnett, G Coombes.

Yellow card: J Ryan 59-69.

CARDIFF: C Winnett; O Lane (T Cabango, 56), M Grady, B Thomas (J Beetham, 78), J Adams; T de Beer, E Bevan (M Aubrey, 61); C Domachowski (R Carré, 48), L Belcher, capt (E Lloyd, 65), K Assiratti (W Davies-King, 65); B Donnell, S Davies (R Thornton, 65); A Mann, E Jenkins (T Young, 50), M Martin.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).