MAGNERS LEAGUE:NOBODY HAS explicitly stated it, but this weekend at the RDS will be no ordinary Magners League match. The Munster-Leinster derby is always laced with various spices but new to this year's engagement is the indisputable fact that the Heineken Cup is the property of Leinster.
For once, Munster have the motivation of the underdog, of the (slight) outsider, of facing the champions. And this week, they are just busy scrambling to make sure that they are ready. In an ideal world, all of the Munster athletes would have reported for duty fresh and rested and perfectly prepared for the season but instead, the list of injuries began to lengthen as the autumn schedule gathered pace.
And suddenly, a crucial phase of the new club season is upon them: a visit to the buoyant citadel in Ballsbridge for the prime-time Saturday night show and, a week later, their first outing of the new Heineken league.
For Munster coach Tony McGahan the balance between fielding an optimum side and rushing players back from injury is delicate. The Munster squad trained on a beautiful afternoon in Limerick yesterday and inched towards a clean bill of health. Alan Quinlan has been named in the squad for the visit to Dublin but nothing is set in stone.
Jerry Flannery and David Wallace came through yesterday’s training unscathed but McGahan admitted that management has yet to decide whether to advance them to the match-day 22. There is a slight question mark over Donnacha Ryan. And both Keith Earls and Paul O’Connell have been dogged by a series of setbacks that has hindered their new season debuts. Even for a club of Munster’s depth and resilience, these represent serious setbacks.
“Yeah, we do need to get our 22 nailed down as quickly as we can but we can only make sure that the players are there for the whole season as well as this first block of games,” said McGahan.
“It is not to our advantage to rush players back. Players need to make sure that they have trained to a certain level before they go in. It is not the start of the season that these guys are going back into, it is round five this weekend. So after two trial games, most players are at seven games and the speed and ferocity of the contact area is huge and if we are putting players in, they are not going to last so we need to be very careful about how we introduce these players.”
Speed and ferocity could well define this weekend’s Irish rugby derby. Last year, Leinster earned both the silverware and international respect to match their reputation for flair. Their stubborn and brave drive to their inaugural Heineken Cup success included a memorable semi-final win over Munster and after years of living in the shadow of the Reds, things have suddenly fallen into place for the Leinster men. As McGahan said admiringly yesterday, they have taken up this year where they left off.
“Look, they have been very good. I felt that they looked to change a few little things in their game. But they have been extremely dogged, as they were at the tail end of last season. I thought that they were unlucky against Scarlets but responded really well with a good performance against Dragons. They showed great belief against Edinburgh so they are going along quite well.”
McGahan declared that this season has proven more difficult in terms of re-integration than any of the previous seasons he has spent with Munster. Their opening round defeat in the Magners League reflected that but since then the coach believes the improvement has been satisfactory if not exactly staggering.
He highlighted the improvement in the scrum as a significant area of improvement but predicted that the Leinster pack would give the Munster crew a serious examination.
“Our scrum has been a big improvement since round one. We didn’t scrummage against Glasgow and were suitably punished in that game and since then we put a bit of work into that. And since a lot of players came back into the squad we have been able to work on that. But we are expecting a tough battle in that area against Leinster. In the semi- final last year their scrum was very good, their play around that area was very good and they have a good frontrow. They have a real stability there and in the lineout so they will be tough.”
The absence of Rocky Elsom is the big difference between the all-conquering Leinster pack of last year and this year’s vintage.
“Any side would miss a player of his quality,” McGahan acknowledged. After the Heineken Cup last year, the plaudits he drew spoke volumes for his play. But Leinster have a lot of good young backrow players and they have been very settled in the scrum and lineout.”
He refused to be drawn on the complexities and old-scores element of this latest Leinster-Munster instalment. Ferocity was never an issue but the Indian sign that Munster had on Leinster was rendered powerless in that seismic match last season. That makes this latest engagement all the more intriguing.
“When you play a quality side like Leinster, the attitude and the mental focus needs to be right at the top end of where you are trying to prepare to get a result,” McGahan said.
“And because they are a close neighbour and the local derby, we need to be mentally right to make sure that we get a result on Saturday. (Last year) means something but it is gone really. This game represents another opportunity and another local derby.”
MUNSTER (squad v Leinster). Backs: F Jones, K Earls, D Hurley, I Dowling, D Howlett, L Mafi, J de Villiers, P Warwick, R O’Gara, P Stringer, T Morland, T O’Leary. Forwards: A Quinlan, N Williams, D Wallace, N Ronan, D Leamy, D Ryan, P O’Connell, M O’Driscoll, D O’Callaghan, J Flannery, D Fogarty, T Buckley, J Hayes, M Horan.
