Munster’s Ireland stars set to be available to face Leinster as McMillan manages workload
DOTTING DOWN: Munster's Shane Daly goes over for his side's first try despite the attempts of Owen Watkin of the Ospreys at Brewery Field in Bridgend on Saturday night. Pic: Gruff Thomas/Sportsfile
Munster should be in good health as far as their contingent of Ireland regulars are concerned heading into next week’s festive interpro with Leinster.
Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley and Craig Casey have played in three of the province’s four games since the November window. With Beirne and Casey left out of Saturday’s 26-10 win over the Ospreys, likely with one eye on featuring in Thomond Park on the 27th, one would imagine that Crowley’s injury which saw him miss the defeat to Bath works in his favour, despite his 65-minute outing in Bridgend.
Once Munster returned to action against the Stormers at the end of November, they were staring into an eight-game block before Ireland camp gets up and running for the Six Nations. Reading the tea leaves, it seems that six is the magic number for how often certain Irish players can be involved in said window.
“All of those players, they can’t play six games in a row,” said head coach Clayton McMillan after Saturday’s victory. “They have to sit out a number of games. I think we’re at game four now. [They’re] still a contender for [Leinster].”
If viewing Saturday night’s victory in south-west Wales as a tune-up for the upcoming interpros, Munster did not resemble a team ready to put in a fluid performance against their biggest rivals.
The other interpretation would be to look at the vagaries of this stretch, senior players coming in and out of the side, combined the challenges of peaking both for Europe and festive games that draw important crowds. In such a climate, a bonus point win is never to be taken for granted, irrespective of the at times clunky performance.
That was certainly McMillan’s slant after a victory which saw his side reclaim second spot in the URC table after Cardiff fell to the Scarlets 24 hours previously.
“I don’t think there are any easy wins in this competition and it’s even harder when you go away from home,” said the Munster boss.
“Cherish this one. It was potentially a road bump for us, sticky game. You can easily lose and then you’re back to the drawing board. We’re grateful.”
Plenty of that stickiness came from Munster’s attack. Four tries were secured, courtesy of Shane Daly, Lee Barron, Jack Crowley and Mike Haley, enough done with ball in hand to secure a bonus point. Yet the fluidity seen earlier this season in Mike Prendergast’s remit was lacking more often than it was found in Bridgend.
Errors were the ultimate sin, pullbacks from forwards to backs going to deck, passes not sticking and possession coughed up to the Ospreys. The symptom, though, by and large was an inability to find sufficient punch in the carry to draw in the defence. The ball was thrown too wide too early.
A quick line speed often swarmed around Messrs Nankivell and Farrell in the middle of the park, creating chaos in which Munster survived but did not thrive.
“100%, we talked about it at half-time,” said McMillan when asked if his side was too lateral. “We’re getting a decent carry off an edge and then perhaps looking to go out the back, getting a bit lateral and we’re easy to pick off.
“We wanted to get a bit more direct in the second half. We had some moments where we did that well but the game is stop-starty, neither team got into that flow.”
The required punch came at times after half-time, not least from Nankivell’s bust and offload which ultimately created the gap for Haley’s bonus point score. Against a Leinster side which isn’t in great form but is more powerful than the Ospreys and even better at picking off disjointed back play, given their fast line speed, Munster will need to improve.
If anything else, because a first Thomond win over their Dublin rivals since 2018 feels more likely than it has done in some time. A first league double since 2014/15 is also on the cards.
“The first game was a hell of an experience at Croke Park, 50,000,” said McMillan. “I have experienced on the other side of the fence coming to Thomond Park, full capacity home crowd. No doubt people are going to turn up and be in that great festive spirit and understand it’s going to be a hell of a game. Looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s new to me, it’s usually barbecues and beers at this stage of the season, but that adds to the occasion. People come home, they spend time with their families. I understand it’s a bit of a ritual to put the colours on, head along to Thomond Park and support Munster over the festive period. It’s sold out.
“We got a good outcome last time. Previously we potentially caught them on the hop, now they’re hurting. We know what’s coming.”
M Nagy (yellow, 16); D Kasende, E Boshoff (J Walsh, 63, O Watkin (K Williams, 55), K Giles; D Edwards, R Morgan-Williams (K Hardy, HT); S Thomas (C Jones, 63), D Lake (S Parry, 58), R Henry (T Botha, 55); R Davies, R Smith (H Sutton, 77); J Ratti, H Deaves (M Morse, 58), M Morris (M Morse, 5-18, blood).
M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, S Daly; J Crowley (JJ Hanrahan, 65), P Patterson (E Coughlan, 70); J Loughman (M Milne, 65), N Scannell (L Barron, 31), M Ala’alatoa (C Bartley, 56); J Kleyn (E Edogbo, 56), F Wycherley (T Ahern, 73); J O’Donoghue (capt) (yellow, 53), A Kendellen, G Coombes (J Hodnett, 65).
Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
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