Leamy backs Munster’s road-hardened smarts for Bath Champions Cup test
The selection of the more experienced JJ Hanrahan at 10 over the promising Tony Butler, along with a 6-2 bench split, suggests Munster are taking a pragmatic approach for their Champions Cup opener against Bath. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie
Denis Leamy has seen enough from his three years working with the current squad to have seen them develop the rugby chops on the road to negotiate the extremely demanding challenge facing Munster in Bath on Saturday night.
Last weekend’s Thomond Park defeat at the hands of the URC-leading Stormers not only ended the winning start to new head coach Clayton McMillan’s reign, but the manner of it highlighted the size of the task awaiting McMillan’s men at the home of the English champions and current league leaders when they arrive at The Rec.
Bath will be an even stronger unit than the Stormers side which came from 21–6 down at the interval with 21 unanswered second-half points to keep their own unbeaten start alive into a seventh round of URC action later this month. And there will be no let-up at scrum time, where Munster were outmuscled seven days earlier, with Johann van Graan starting with a British & Irish Lions Test tighthead prop in Will Stuart and keeping Springbok first choice Thomas du Toit in reserve on the bench.
To say Munster will need their best performance of the season to date to return to Ireland with something meaningful in the way of match points is an understatement but defence coach Leamy has confidence that his players’ rugby education on the road at places like Exeter, Northampton, Toulon and La Rochelle is such that there will be the composure to at least stay in the fight and emerge with a losing bonus point at the very least. That would be a meaningful return heading into next Saturday’s Páirc Uí Chaoimh clash with an out of sorts Gloucester, and the Munster assistant is not under-estimating its value across a four-game pool campaign, despite the belief his side are more than capable of another famous European away win.
“It's so important. Over the years, history will tell you that scrapping for a losing bonus point or whatever may be on the line,” Leamy said.
“Obviously, you want to get as much as you can out of it but every point is vital, every score is vital, every time you stop them is vital. Those things are huge.
“It's fine margins always in Europe. You never know until the final game is played, and the last ball has been kicked, but how important over the years, getting a point on the road has been for Munster and other teams, you can't really quantify that.”
The loss of Jack Crowley to an ankle injury doubtless diminishes the on-field brains trust and playmaking ability but for all the promise in young fly-half Tony Butler, the selection of JJ Hanrahan and a move to a bench of six forwards and two backs, scrum-half Ethan Coughlan and centre Alex Nankivell represent a hard-nosed, pragmatic approach to this fixture where experience is the key. So too a debut for new arrival Michael Ala’alatoa as tighthead prop replacement, whose Leinster experience alone at the highest level of European competition points to added value for such an engagement.
“I think the boys would have a very good understanding of cup rugby now at this stage,” Leamy said. “They understand dissecting a game and going from play to play and as a game gets into the latter stages, what's the landscape?
“Are we chasing a game? Are we trying to see out a game? Is there four points on the line? Have we an opportunity to get maybe a bonus point? Are we chasing a game trying to win it or are we chasing a game trying to get a bonus point? And that changes your mindset.
“I think the boys are experienced now. You think of Jack (Crowley, now unavailable) and Craig (Casey), they're probably 25 cappers now at this stage, both of them. You have players like Jean Kleyn, you have players like Tadhg Beirne, you trust these guys to understand the feel and what that feels like in any given moment and come up with the right plays to try and get the outcome you want.”
Leamy even sees a harder edge on the road this season, where wins against Scarlets, and Leinster at Croke Park, have outshone home performances.
“We have a very good understanding this year of applying pressure on teams and how to turn teams around and apply pressure cycles on top of them and force them to exit, etc.
“I think that's something that we're growing and the boys have a good understanding of that.”
Munster will need all that experience and rugby street smarts, which makes this a true barometer of the progress McMillan and his coaches have made so far this season.
Tom de Glanville; Joe Cokanasiga, Max Ojomoh, Cameron Redpath, Henry Arundell; Finn Russell, Ben Spencer – captain; Beno Obano, Tom Dunn, Will Stuart; Quinn Roux, Charlie Ewels; Josh Bayliss, Guy Pepper, Miles Reid
Kepu Tuipulotu, Francois van Wyk, Thomas du Toit, Ross Molony, Ted Hill, Tom Carr-Smith, Santi Carreras, Sam Underhill
Shane Daly; Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tom Farrell, Dan Kelly, Thaakir Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, Craig Casey; Michael Milne, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Tom Ahern; Tadhg Beirne (C), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Lee Barron, Jeremy Loughman, Michael Ala’alatoa, Edwin Edogbo, Ruadhán Quinn, Ethan Coughlan, Alex Nankivell, Alex Kendellen.
Jeremy Rozier (France)
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