Munster v Leinster talking points: Home crowd should help boost morale for injury-affected Reds
Munster’s John Hodnett, Tom Ahern, Tadhg Beirne and Jack O’Donoghue dejected after conceding a first-half try. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
MUNSTER host rivals Leinster at Thomond Park on St Stephen’s Day looking for a morale-boosting win in the URC on the back of the disappointing late collapse against the Exeter Chiefs in the Champions Cup last Sunday.
Munster have actually been starting games really well of late. It is seeing them out where the problem lies.
In early November Munster had led Ulster 3-14 in the first half up at Ravenhill but conceded 18 unanswered points to lose by seven. Unfortunately, this fade-out was just a sign of things to come.
In their next URC tie against the Stormers, Munster had led 10-0 at halftime, but failed to score again, as they just about held onto a 10-3 win.
Next up was the trip to the Aviva Stadium, where Munster were 0-10 up early on against Leinster, thanks to a scintillating early Craig Casey try, but they ran out of steam again to lose by five by the final whistle.
Against Glasgow, in early December Graham Rowntree’s side were 26-5 up and cruising at the break, but they were hanging on by the end, and they also blew a 14-3 halftime lead at home to Bayonne in the opening round of the Champions Cup to draw.
Last Sunday was the icing on the cake. Munster had played some wonderful rugby and were fully deserving of their 24-13 lead.
These second-half collapses must stop. Tuesday at Thomond Park against Leinster would be a good place to start.
One of the reasons why Munster are failing to see out games is down to the huge injury list they have at present.
📢 TEAM NEWS | Here is your Munster side for the sold-out #URC St Stephen's Day Interpro derby against Leinster at Thomond Park 💪
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) December 22, 2023
Click the pic for full details.#MUNvLEI #SUAF 🔴
A quick look at the player ratings in one media outlet for last weekend’s game against Exeter told a story in itself. Four of the Munster replacements apparently ‘were not on long enough to rate’, while substitute hooker Eoghan Clarke and reserve back Rory Scannell never actually got onto the pitch.
This would suggest that head coach Graham Rowntree does not think that he currently possesses a bench to impact games in the crucial final quarters of big games, which means that he is expecting more of his front-liners to go the full 80 minutes, or get as close as possible to that mark.
As seen from the stats above, in relation to Munster’s second-half collapses in the last two months, this approach simply is not working.
All the top clubs in Europe now have huge squads with them able to spring significant quality from the bench when the starters begin to tire. It would help Munster’s cause a lot if the injury list began to dissipate considerably in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, the young players need to be fully backed, as the game simply is not a 15-man game anymore.
Munster would not have been overly upset leaving the Aviva Stadium on 25 November, after losing 21-16 in that rip-roaring URC clash, as they would have felt that they had really put it up to their rivals Leinster and that the memory of the famous URC semi-final win back in May meant that it genuinely felt like the meeting of equals for the first time in a long time in the long-running rivalry.
That 15-16 victory on May 13, secured by Jack Crowley’s epic last-minute drop goal, was a line-in-the-sand moment from a Munster perspective in their relationship with Leinster, but to maintain that foothold they need another victory over Leo Cullen’s side quickly to prove it was not just a once off.
The injury issues mean that Munster go into this weaker than they would have liked, but in front of a boisterous home crowd they must be seen to put down a marker and to show Leinster that a trip to the home of the URC champions is no post-Christmas picnic.
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