Niall Scannell hoping to crown 200th Munster cap with win in Wales

Munster hooker Niall Scannell. Pic: James Crombie/Inpho

Niall Scannell’s 100th Munster cap was earned at the space-aged La Defense Arena in Paris in a crucial Champions Cup tie. 

His 200th will be recorded at what is likely to be a mostly empty Parc Y Scarlets this Saturday in a low-key URC opener.

That isn’t the only contrast the veteran is hoping for.

“My 100th cap was one to forget,” he said. “So I'm eager for that not to happen again.” 

A draw with Racing 92 in Thomond Park and a nine-point loss away to Saracens had left the two-time European champions with no room for error as they made for France in January of 2020. Lose and they were all but out of contention.

It started well with three JJ Hanrahan penalties putting them in a positive position but, while they still led at the break, late tries from Teddy Thomas, Virimi Vakatawa and Juan Imhoff left them all but out with one round still to go.

So, Scannell is taking nothing for granted in Wales this week. 

Not even his selection, it seems, but the hooker is eager to make his latest milestone and match his younger brother Rory who made it to the double ton before leaving the club last year.

“I suppose getting beaten to it by your younger brother is a little frustrating. It feels like it's been a while coming, but I'm really proud to have gotten here. More so than other weeks, I probably had a bit of a look back at the kind of journey and the ups and downs of it and stuff, and particularly the early parts of my career.

“For a few years there I thought I wouldn't get one [cap], and then I was on two for about a year. You just don't know how it's all going to pan out and you just keep grinding, kind of blindly. It's just great when you reflect back at this stage.

“I played so many great games for Munster, so many memories, so many friends out of it. It is nice to reflect on but it would be made very special if we could go over to Scarlets to get a win on Saturday.” 

It was the Scarlets who provided the opposition back in December of 2013 in Cork when the now 33-year-old made his debut for the province and the man wearing No.10 and kicking the goals that night happened to be the same JJ Hanrahan.

Hanrahan is back again for a third stint with his native province, but it’s fair to say that the new man most people are interested in right now is the latest head coach, Clayton McMillan, who takes charge on the back of a successful chapter with the Chiefs.

Defence coach Denis Leamy spoke this week about the “old school” approach adopted by the coaching staff in a pre-season where the players have turned their hands to swimming, rowing, boxing and hill running as well as the more familiar pursuits.

Scannell has enjoyed the shift in focus after more than a dozen pre-seasons.

“That new twist on it's been great,” he explained. “And in terms of the rugby, he's kind of blended really well with what we've been doing, and he's adding his own little bits all the time.

“But it hasn't been one fell swoop of change from a rugby point of view. So we're hoping to bring that consistency and where we've been building our game the last few seasons. Hopefully we can kick it on to a new level in various aspects.

“It's been a really interesting pre-season. It's been hard work. It was a long slog, but they've got a great mix of the physical and the amount of rugby we got through. We feel like we're in a really good place going into Saturday, which is all you can ask.”