Despite the astonishing gap of 21 points that continues to separate them in the United Rugby Championship table, Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster acknowledged it will be a rejuvenated Munster that awaits them in Thomond Park on St Stephen’s Day.
When the two sides met in the URC at the Aviva Stadium on October 22nd, Munster developed a 13-7 lead in the early stages of the second half before their arch rivals responded with 20 unanswered points to ultimately see the game out in comprehensive fashion. Munster followed up this defeat with a narrow reversal to Ulster a week later, but spirits were raised as a result of their victory against South Africa A in an historic clash at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on November 10th.
Back-to-back league wins followed at the expense of Connacht and Edinburgh and while the southern province had to make do with a losing bonus point against Toulouse in their first game of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup, last Sunday’s 17-6 triumph over Northampton Saints has them in the mix for the European knockout rounds.
“I think their results have obviously improved. They had a very good win up in Edinburgh having fallen behind. The South Africa game seemed to be a catalyst for them with their results. It was a very good win over Northampton. I know how much Northampton wanted to win that game,” Lancaster remarked at a Leinster media briefing on Tuesday.
The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times
The bird-shaped obsession that drives James Crombie, one of Ireland’s best sports photographers
Former army baby Sam Prendergast not afraid to stand his ground in Ireland senior squad
No underestimating the Flying Fijians as they prepare to target Ireland’s vulnerabilities
“They’ve still got the resilience and defensive toughness and set-piece organisation you see every year, but now they’ve got more detail in terms of their attacking shape. They’re working harder off the ball and you can generally see what they’re trying to do in attack. It’s a completely different style to 18 months ago isn’t it?
“You could pretty much guarantee that the box kick would come first as an exit policy. Now it’s a box kick, but it could easily be a mindset to run as well so there has definitely been an evolution. That’s the type of thing we have talked about in the preview because it would be pretty naïve to think that they are not confident now. Because they should be.”
The Racing 92-bound Lancaster is extremely familiar with Munster supremo Graham Rowntree following the four years they spent together in the England set-up as head coach and forwards coach respectively.
Eddie Jones was Lancaster’s eventual successor in the English hot seat, but an underwhelming run of results saw the Australian relieved of his duties at the end of the autumn international window. Steve Borthwick has now been left to pick up the pieces ahead of next year’s Six Nations and World Cup campaigns, but Lancaster insisted his former side are more than capable of making a big impact in both tournaments.
“I am delighted he has got the job because he is an English coach and he has come through the system. A bit like myself in that I got the interim job at a very similar time. It was December 2011 so it was a very short run into the Six Nations and we made wholesale changes to the squad and won four games out of five,” Lancaster added.
“It is more than achievable to do well with the squad he has. He will really benefit from his time with England [previously as an assistant coach to Jones]. He knows the environment, he knows the players and he knows English rugby. He has proven at Leicester Tigers that he can transform a team from near the bottom of the table into one that can win the title.”
