Briggs insists Munster won't ease up before interpro final

Niamh Briggs said she's "really proud" of how the Muntser women's team are playing but they are determined to continue improving

Munster face Connacht in their final Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship round-robin stage match on Saturday. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Niamh Briggs believes Munster are totally focused on bringing their hard-earned momentum into the final game of the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship round-robin stage this Saturday, despite having already secured their place in the following week’s play-off final.

Munster make the first of two trips to Galway’s Dexcom Stadium this weekend to play Connacht having swept aside Leinster 39-19 and Ulster 62-0 on home turf in Cork. Those dominant bonus-point victories were enough to secure their place in the interpro decider back in Galway when they will defend their crown against either Leinster, currently second on five points, or Connacht, in third on four. Leinster kick off Saturday’s final round at winless Ulster’s Affidea Stadium at 2:30pm with the westerners hosting the defending champions at 4:15pm.

Munster assistant Briggs on Tuesday said captain Maeve Óg O’Leary was expected to pass fit to return to the back row this Saturday having been forced out of the Ulster win with a minor knock.

And as the former Ireland Grand Slam winner looked ahead to meeting Connacht, she took as much pleasure from keeping Ulster pointless as the 10 tries scored, impressed by Munster’s willingness to withstand Ulster’s purple patch in the final quarter with the game already well won.

“It's obviously really pleasing to keep any team to nil. I think the defensive sets, especially at that end, were really big for us,” Briggs said. “We had a couple of them against Leinster as well. Sometimes they're as good as a try in terms of what they can do for the confidence of the group.

“It was great, really pleasing, and for us to be able to get ourselves out of trouble at times, maybe with a bit of luck as well a couple of times, it was great and just really pleased, really proud of where we are.

“There's a will too that we want to get better, a real drive for this group. They're very hungry to continue to improve and we've just got to keep pushing that.” 

Briggs insisted Munster still had plenty of room for improvement, though it was difficult to criticise a squad who had delivered such a commanding performance.

“You can't really complain about a victory like that. There's a real cohesive part now to this group. We want to see them getting better every week. That's a big thing. We talk a lot around every day we get better at something that we weren't good at the day before, so whether that's training or matches.

“There were elements definitely we were really happy with in terms of our ability to move the ball. Some of our breakdown work was excellent and some wasn't. It's probably just around the consistency around how we do things.

“We still gave away nine penalties last week, so it's a big area we want to improve on. You're just looking to push to the next level. How do we evolve what we're doing already? I think that's a big message for us.

“We had a really good review and certain areas we want to get after for Connacht this week. But realistically, you're just looking for them to continue to improve all the time. They've been doing that.

“I think when you have that kind of momentum behind you, it's really easy to get down to the nitty-gritty around the technical stuff we're trying to get better at. Are we carrying the ball the right way? Is the breakdown quick? Are we moving to the point of contact? Are we staying square? All that kind of stuff we really value. They've been really good at it. They totally bought into it. We'll just see where we are on Saturday.”