URC quarter-final: Glasgow Warriors v Munster, Saturday, 7.35, Scotstoun (Live RTÉ 2, Premier Sports)
Timing is everything. Pick a few names coach Graham Rowntree would have wished to come back into his Munster side for a tough trip to Glasgow and smarts bets would have RG Snyman and Tadhg Beirne among them.
The Springbok comes into the second row and the Ireland Grand Slam winner at blindside flanker hoping lessons were learned from the last outing over in Glasgow.
Munster will look to their meeting in March with mixed feelings. The Warriors scored five tries and won the match, although, Munster trailing 28-0 at half time hit back with 26 points in the second period for a bonus point 38-26 defeat.
That ended Munster’s five-match winning run in the league and helped Glasgow get to where they now are, in a home URC quarter-final.
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The upside for Munster is the spark and fight they recently showed in South Africa in their 22-22 draw with the Sharks in April. A month previously they had fallen to a 50-point defeat to the same side.
Needs must have been a motivator with Snyman and Beirne the only changes to the fiery team outing against Sharks, Beirne making his first start since a January ankle injury with Ireland in the Six Nations.
“He is a British & Irish Lion, won Grand Slams, he is a player with an awful lot of experience, the way he communicates with the young players and how he drives standards in the group, it is great to have Tadhg [Beirne] back,” said Munster coach Denis Leamy.
Glasgow are undefeated at home for over a year and have lost just once since last November and that was a 40-5 thumping by Leinster. They also have a European Challenge Cup final against Toulon to consider.
But Munster have not won at Scotstoun since 2020 and face a confident home side that will celebrate Johnny Gray’s 100th outing for the club. The Scotland lock will reach the milestone 14 years on from his professional debut for his hometown team.
“I don’t think we will look at it in terms of we owe them a performance,” said Leamy. “Certainly on the night we were very disappointed with the way that we played, the way we turned up.
“That night didn’t reflect what we would be about in terms of the standards we would set. We were off all over the pitch. We just didn’t play well. We were under pressure at the scrum, we were under pressure up front. We lacked the calmness in attack that we would like to have, we were sloppy and turned over the ball.”
Glasgow can expect the intensity Munster set in Kings Park against Sharks, a good deal of it led by captain Peter O’Mahony in the back row with Gavin Coombes and now Beirne too.
Jack Crowley starts as the first pick outhalf alongside Conor Murray with Scotland-bound Ben Healy again poised on the bench. It was Healy who kicked two conversions in South Africa for Munster to draw level 22-22.
GLASGOW WARRIORS: Ollie Smith; Sebastian Cancelliere, Sione Tuipulotu, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Steyn (capt); Tom Jordan, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, Johnny Matthews, Zander Fagerson; Scott Cummings, Richie Gray; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Nathan McBeth, Simon Berghan, JP du Preez, Lewis Bean, Sione Vailanu, Ali Price, Huw Jones
MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Malakai Fekitoa, Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Conor Murray; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, RG Snyman; Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony (capt), Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Josh Wycherley, Roman Salanoa, Fineen Wycherley, John Hodnett, Craig Casey, Ben Healy, Alex Kendellen.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).
