Denis Leamy is trying to provide a verbal handbrake on what is threatening to become a runaway caboose of expectation, one that is gathering speed ahead of Munster’s United Rugby Championship (URC) final against the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday evening (5.30 Irish time).
The Munster defence coach offered a measured appraisal of the formidable task ahead in dethroning the defending champions on home turf. There is justifiable confidence in the capacity of Graham Rowntree’s side to repeat last month’s victory over the Stormers on foot of several excellent victories on the road, the most recent high points in Glasgow and Dublin.
Beating Leinster was accomplished without Calvin Nash, Malakai Fekitoa, Conor Murray and RG Snyman, all of whom are expected to be available for selection this Saturday.
In a throwback to the halcyon days, Munster supporters have decamped in large numbers to Cape Town. The exact figure? Says Leamy: “Just to clarify, I’m being told it’s more like 2,000 Munster fans, which is fantastic. It’s incredible that we have that much travelling support from Munster fans from all over the world.
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“We talk about it all the time, they will travel from Australia, America, the Middle East, from Ireland and England, and it’s just fantastic that we will have that number of fans there. You want to give people like that, who have travelled out, a performance.
“Obviously we want to perform for ourselves and everyone that is back home. That’s part of being in the Munster environment. The whole Munster region and beyond, the diaspora means an awful lot to us. We are very conscious of what we represent, both in the present and in the past.”
Leamy explained that the emphasis has been on the process of winning rather than allowing thoughts to drift to what it would be like to lift the trophy. The key leadership cabal - head coach Rowntree, captain Peter O’Mahony, Murray and World Cup winners such as Fekitoa and Snyman - have ensured that the focus is on the building blocks of performance.
“It is important that we control that environment a bit and use the experiences of the guys who have played in big finals. Our day-to-day has, I believe, set them up for this final. We don’t big up any game. It has always been about the next game. This is a big game, a huge game, but we will approach it in the same fashion as we approached Leinster and Glasgow and going back right through the season.
“We have created those sorts of habits. We haven’t tried to create a different level to different games we play, where we have to go to the well for one game, and maybe not for another. We are consistent in our actions and in our messages to put the boys in as good a space as we can.
“There is a tight group here. We have grown from those victories on the road and how we trained and how we have gelled together. It is a group of very few egos, if not none. Guys are very honest with each other, we speak to each other in a very growth mindset way, and conversations are always very strong in terms of how we can get better.
“In terms of being in a tough place on the road in South Africa, you need those types of characters to stand up and that’s the plan.”
Leamy, as defence coach, is primed regarding the threats that the Stormers will post both individually and collectively, namechecking Herschel Jantjies, Damian Willemse and Evan Roos, before being asked directly about Manie Libbok, a player who enjoyed a huge influence in the Stormers’ quarter-final and semi-final wins.
“Yeah, what a player, he’s such a talent, you could watch reels of him, just his ability to pass balls; his kick passing is just world class, his ability to put the ball on a lower trajectory and put it through the air quickly, that’s special.
“Libbok’s a guy that we must try and take time and space away from. We will go back to our fundamentals and our framework in terms of how we want to control the speed of ball and to try to nullify him a little bit in terms of how we defend together; a huge task, he’s a massive player for the Stormers but he’s a guy that we will try to curtail through our framework.”
Leamy was asked how much it would mean to him to see O’Mahony lift the trophy. “It would mean a huge amount. I don’t want to single Pete out, but he’s been around a long time and for Pete to sample that sort of success would be phenomenal.
“For everyone in the group, the young players, the coaches, all the management and all the staff, for everyone back in Cork and Limerick, when you think of all the supporters right throughout Munster and beyond, it would be hugely special; it would be a great ending to the game if we could get Pete up on the podium.”
Ben Healy and RG Snyman trained without any issues on Wednesday, with Rowntree naming the team on Friday lunchtime.
