Munster look to Miracle Match of 2016 for belief to claim Champions Cup spot

Stephen Archer, set to play his final home game in Cork on Friday in his 303rd appearance, also started against Edinburgh that night and he recently recalled the importance that cool heads within the camp made in 2016 ahead of their 27-19 victory and the following week’s 31-15 Thomond Park win over Scarlets which secured that crucial sixth-place finish.

Fri, 16 May, 2025 - 06:12

Simon Lewis

The tail end of the campaign, a season on the line, and a sold-out Musgrave Park - Munster have been here before.

And as they prepare to welcome Benetton to Cork for the final round of the URC regular season on Friday night, former fly-half Johnny Holland believes the same elements that got Anthony Foley’s team over the line in 2016 can see their successors into the play-offs and onto the 2025-26 Champions Cup with a victory over the Italians.

Nine years ago, Edinburgh were the visitors in the penultimate round of a Pro12 campaign that would see Pat Lam’s Connacht proclaimed champions against all the odds. And it was a heavy defeat to the westerners in Galway, the second of back-to-back interprovincial losses in as many rounds following a narrow Aviva Stadium defeat to Leinster, that had Munster supporters fearing the worst for their team. The 2015-16 competition saw only the top four teams in the league table reach the knockout rounds and those defeats for Munster left them needing a top six finish to reach the following season’s Champions Cup.

They had two rounds left to achieve their goal, and avoid the ignominy of being the first Munster team to miss out on the top-tier of European club competition and Holland remembers that as a prime motivator as kick-off drew near to their Cork showdown with Edinburgh in their penultimate game of the season.

Then 24, the former fly-half and Cork Constitution head coach was battling an ongoing hamstring injury and would play the last six games of the season though they would turn out to be the last matches of his playing career.

“I do remember the pressure Axel was under and the pressure in the environment, that this can’t be the first time we don't make it into Europe and that kind of craic… there was ferocious pressure, ‘don't be the first to miss out’.”

"We were in this situation and players took big ownership,” Archer said. “I wouldn't say it was a siege mentality, but we took ownership and had two good wins in a row.

"So, it's just about players taking responsibility, ownership, rolling sleeves up and getting stuck in."

Holland said that pointed to the collective strength that forms inside a Munster dressing room.

“In those situations, players have to do that... and that’s why collectively you just get tighter, that's what Munster’s DNA is.

“Of course they’re getting closer (now), their backs are against the wall and that’s where Munster thrive and I hope they thrive once more because Benetton at home is a very winnable game, but Benetton are actually quite good with a good set-piece and the Munster set-piece is struggling, or at least their lineout is. So I hope there’s a reaction that we'd expect. It's almost like everyone expects it but you can’t take that for granted.

“But you have that belief because of who you’re playing with, like a strong tradition of backs to the wall, you always perform. You go back to the Miracle Match and all these things, you expect them to do that and that gives you a sense of belief in the jersey but you’ve no right to it.

“And Benetton have everything to upset Munster but surely they’ll get there. That said, you might have expected Ulster and Connacht to get there and they didn’t, the tide turned against them at some stage but hopefully not for Munster this weekend.”