Another punch for Munster 'probably a knockout' admits McMillan

The Reds take on Ulster at Thomond Park on Saturday. 

Jack Crowley is put through his paces during Munster training at UL. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

Clayton McMillan has warned Munster’s rollercoaster season cannot afford another tail-off in form, because another punch on the nose to Ulster on Saturday “is probably a knockout” for the province’s URC play-off hopes.

Munster climbed back into the all-important top half of the URC standings with three rounds of the regular season to go when they defeated Benetton in a 45-15 bonus-point victory in Treviso last Saturday. They now sit in sixth place, a point behind Ulster and just two adrift of a top-four finish which would guarantee a home draw for the play-off quarter-finals on the final weekend in May.

Yet after failing to put together any consistent run of performances since winning their first five games under the incoming head coach, Munster could also fall out of the play-off race completely. They sit just two points from Connacht in ninth place and finishing outside the top eight would mean no knockout rugby and a first season without Champions Cup participation in the elite competition’s 31-year history.

Injury-hit Ulster visit Limerick looking to score a league double over their interpro rivals having delivered what McMillan described as one of the most painful defeats of his short tenure, a 28-3 loss in Belfast on January 2.

Asked if that hurt could fuel his players in search of payback on Saturday, McMillan on Thursday said: “Yeah, well, if we get another punch on the nose it's probably a knockout, isn't it? We can't afford that, so we don't have a choice.

“We have to front up, and if revenge or any of those type of emotions come into it for individuals, then whatever it takes to get the job done.

“For me personally, as a coaching group, it was one of those performances you look back on and just get disappointed because you fell a long, long, long way short of what we know we're capable of.

“We've lost plenty of other games this year where we’ve actually shown a bit of fight. That was one where we fell well short, and those are the ones that linger in the memory longest.”