Munster v Cardiff: Kyriacou demands higher accuracy and execution ...

Last Friday’s victory at Ospreys garnered a third straight winning URC bonus point to lift Munster into the top four of the standings while Cardiff’s failure to hold onto a 13-0 half-time lead at Glasgow Warriors in a 17-13 defeat the same night consigned the Welshmen to their sixth defeat in a row in all competitions.

Yet all is not what it appears from the Munster management’s standpoint. The performance against Ospreys that fell short of what they required while Cardiff’s miserable run belies a team better than their losing scorelines suggest.

While warning this week of the multiple threats coming from Cardiff, forwards coach Andi Kyriacou also demanded a lifting in levels of accuracy and execution for the task ahead.

“The nice thing about picking up a bonus-point win away from home and not performing that well is that we can go a little bit harder at the lads with some of this stuff,” Kyriacou said.

“There’s stuff within that game performance-wise we know is nowhere near where we want to be and we’ve highlighted that Monday in our review and really chased it this week. The players are really driving that as well in terms of what’s expected of us performance-wise and we fully expect to see a bounce-back from that come Saturday night.

“We’re fully locked on in terms of what Cardiff are going to bring this weekend. We’ve got to make sure we improve in the areas we’ve highlighted from last week and it’s not new stuff. It’s just staying within our framework and executing the plan that’s in place from us as coaches and players in terms of how they manage that on-field in the heat of a pretty tough environment within the game.” 

While Cardiff bring back their Wales internationals, including exciting 21-year-old full-back Cam Winnett and British & Irish Lions wing Josh Adams, Munster go in search of their first Thomond Park win since November’s 10-3 win over Stormers by making six changes and one positional switch from the team which started against Ospreys.

Championship title winners Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley, and Peter O’Mahony all return to the starting line-up for the first time since that home loss to Saints and a week in advance of Champions Cup Round of 16 trip to Northampton with only wing Calvin Nash of Munster’s regular Six Nations starters absent due to a leg injury picked up during training this week.

Beirne reunites with RG Snyman in the second row as Tom Ahern, a starting lock last weekend, moves to the replacements. Beirne also takes over the captaincy from back-rower Alex Kendellen, who drops to the bench having led Munster during the Six Nations campaign.

O’Mahony’s return sees the Ireland captain back in the number six jersey as John Hodnett moves from blindside to openside flanker at Kendellen’s expense in a back row featuring Gavin Coombes at No.8 to maintain his ever-present run as a starter this season.

There are changes to the front row where loosehead prop Jeremy Loughman and tighthead Stephen Archer are rotated in as Josh Wycherley and John Ryan switch to the bench.

Fly-half Crowley takes over the number 10 slot from Joey Carbery, who moves to the replacements while there is a return from injury for inside centre Alex Nankivell after the midfielder completed the return to play protocols following a head injury in training that forced him out of the Ospreys win.

MUNSTER: M Haley; S O’Brien, A Frisch, A Nankivell, S Daly; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, N Scannell, S Archer; RG Snyman, T Beirne - captain; P O’Mahony, J Hodnett, G Coombes.

Replacements: E Clarke, J Wycherley, J Ryan, T Ahern, A Kendellen, E Coughlan, J Carbery, S Zebo.

CARDIFF: C Winnett; O Lane, M Grady, B Thomas, J Adams; T de Beer, E Bevan; C Domachowski, L Belcher - captain, K Assiratti; B Donnell, S Davies; A Mann, E Jenkins, M Martin Replacements: R Carré, E Lloyd, W Davies-King, R Thornton, T Young, M Aubrey, J Beetham, T Cabango 

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).