Munster require something special to reach Champions Cup quarter ...
With or without John Ryan on their bench, Munster have known tomorrow’s Champions Cup knockout tie at Northampton Saints would require something special to progress to next weekend’s quarter-finals.
Having the veteran prop’s three-match suspension upheld yesterday afternoon following Munster’s appeal against the severity of the tighthead’s act of foul play in last Saturday’s URC win over Cardiff hardly makes life easier as they prepare to head through Storm Kathleen towards Franklin’s Gardens and a date with the in-form Premiership leaders.
Yet the province has negotiated trickier situations than this in recent memory and emerged successfully into calmer surroundings and the belief within the camp is that there is no reason why this should not be another such occasion.
The return of double World Cup-winning lock RG Snyman following illness is a huge bonus in that regard as Munster bid to overturn their 26-23 pool defeat to Saints at Thomond Park in January with a second consecutive away win inside 15 months in the English East Midlands.
That win was achieved despite the concession of three second-half yellow cards as a defiant Munster rearguard kept the home side tryless to win 17-6 and Graham Rowntree’s men will need summon of that resilience and some pinpoint accuracy in defence on their return to Northampton.
“The thing is with a team like Northampton who have the ability to play through big phases, you’re just one mistake away,” defence coach Denis Leamy said this week.
“A missed tackle is the obvious one, but also allowing an offside line or a poor decision around a ruck and you give a penalty advantage against you, they exhaust the possibilities around advantage and then they come back and kick to the corner. And then they’re bringing in this big forward pack.
“So the challenge is how to go phase to phase with these guys and keep your discipline, and that’s going to be really important, while bringing that line pressure, that contact pressure, slowing up their ball, but also staying disciplined.
“That’s going to be the key around our defensive sets.”
Simon Zebo training with Munster. Pic Credit: Laszlo Geczo, Inpho.Asked what a winning performance looks like for Munster tomorrow, Leamy added: "Like any top side, we need a solid foundation up front. It goes without saying … so that's really important. And when we get our attack flowing, and we do it more often than not, we're a real handful.
"A possession-based team looking for high possession, high phases, high work rate, speed, everything we talk about.
"Then when they're in possession, the ability to go toe-to-toe with them. Analysing their attack, they throw so many varieties of types of attack. They can go to width, they can go through you, they disguise their plays really well.
“They have a lot of power in terms of players like (Ollie) Sleightholme on the wing… these guys. They're very gifted players so how we control the contacts, taking time away from their ball players, controlling the contact, trying to get two into the tackle, slowing up their breakdown, all those controllable and battles are key."
There are key battles all over the pitch, with the battle of two young Test fly-halves in England’s Fin Smith and Ireland’s Jack Crowley, and two old warriors at blindside flanker in Courtney Lawes and Peter O’Mahony two of the more eye-catching ones.
The inclusion of Snyman in the Munster second row alongside matchday captain Tadhg Beirne is one of two changes from last Saturday’s less than fluent 20-15 win over Cardiff, as Tom Ahern drops to the bench.
The other is in the backline where Simon Zebo comes from off the bench onto the right wing, swapping places with Sean O’Brien in the wake of Calvin Nash’s failure to recover from a leg injury.
Ryan’s failed appeal, and injuries to fellow senior tightheads Oli Jager and Roman Salanoa means Munster instead turn to academy prop Mark Donnelly as tighthead replacement, backing up starter Stephen Archer.
Donnelly, 23, made his senior debut in the Champions Cup, against Wasps in December 2021 and all eight of his appearances have come as a loosehead replacement.
The Corkman did feature at tighthead for the Ireland Under-20s in 2021 while starting loosehead Jeremy Loughman has also covered tighthead and could do so once more in his 100th Munster appearance.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS: J Ramm; T Freeman, F Dingwall, B Odendaal, O Sleightholme; F Smith, T James; E Iyogun, C Langdon, T Davison; A Moon, A Coles; C Lawes, L Ludlam – captain, S Graham.
Replacements: S Matavesi, A Waller, P Hill, T Mayanavanua, A Scott-Young, J Augustus, A Mitchell, G Hendy.
MUNSTER: M Haley; S Zebo, A Frisch, A Nankivell, S Daly; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, N Scannell, S Archer; T Beirne – captain, RG Snyman; P O’Mahony, J Hodnett, G Coombes.
Replacements: E Clarke, J Wycherley, M Donnelly, T Ahern, A Kendellen, C Murray, J Carbery, S O’Brien.
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
