David Corkery on rugby: Munster to win big against Connacht with Irish stars back in action

When you look at the venue and read who is playing, you would easily be forgiven for thinking this game was a throwback to the good old days when the GAA ran an inter-provincial series called the Railway Cup.

Declining crowds put an end to this tournament in 2017, but when tomorrow’s game kicks off between the rugby players of Connacht and Munster there won’t be an empty seat in the stands or room to swing a cat in the terraces.

Unprecedented demand saw that this URC game was very quickly confirmed as sold out, and if the truth be told Connacht Rugby could probably have sold well over double the 25,000 capacity. 

Maybe this kind of demand is fuelled by the novelty factor of watching a rugby ball scratch the hallowed surface of Machale Park, but it just goes to show what kind of following Connacht could assemble if they could get their act together on the pitch.

I’d be fairly positive that not everyone on the various Mayo GAA voting committees would have raised their hands in favour of opening the doors to the oval ball brigade, however, the world of sport is costing more and more every day to run, and every governing body whether it be the GAA, IRFU or FAI will do whatever they can to increase their bank balances.

Hopefully, the game will turn out to be a cracker and all those who are lucky enough to have a ticket will not only be able to say they were part of history being made, but that they were witness to one hell of a rugby game.

Heading into this round 14 tie both sides cannot rely on momentum to help them on this occasion as they both posted losses from last week’s outings. Despite a spirited comeback, Connacht went down to a good Ospreys side. 

Connacht started the game at a million miles an hour and scored two well-worked tries. However, they then decided that tackling their opponents was not for them and conceded 35 points.

The game ended on an amazing score line of 43-40 and the men from the west left Wales with two incredibly lucky bonus points.

Now, I have no idea what Scott Fardy who looks after Connacht’s defensive structures said or did in the build-up to tomorrow’s game. If it was me, I would have made the players sit through the replay of the Ospreys game on multiple occasions and explain their pitiful attempts at forming what they called a defensive line.

I can tell you now that if Connacht produce the same kind of defensive efforts as they did in their previous game, Munster will not only win this tie, but they’ll be leaving the county of Mayo having handed their hosts a hammering of biblical proportions.

With only five rounds of this year’s competition remaining before the last eight are confirmed every point is going to be worth its weight in gold.

RETURN

During the week it was announced that the majority of the international players who participated in the Six Nations had returned to their respective camps and for Munster it couldn’t have happened at a better time.

Having lost their last two games to Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively, Ian Costello can now call on the experience of Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley, Conor Murray, Calvin Nash and Peter O’Mahony for this interprovincial. 

Elsewhere Oli Jager and Jack O’Donoghue are also free from the physio table, but what’s even better news is that Craig Casey has recovered from the surgery he underwent back in December after Munster lost to Castres in the Champions Cup.

And, to top it all off, World Cup-winning Springbok Jean Kleyn is fit again for the first time since late October after overcoming a thigh injury.

So, all that remains to be decided now is whether or not Costello and his coaching team elect to ease these players back into his match-day squad, name them in his starting 15 or look to create his own version of the South African bomb squad and launch them from the bench.

Up front, my choice would be to start Jager, Beirne and O’Donghue in the pack which would strengthen the scrum and name Kleyn and O’Mahony on the bench for impact.

Start Crowley, Murray and Nash and give Casey 20 minutes at the end to allow him to regain confidence ahead of next week's game against Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle in the Champions Cup.

DESERVED

Hopefully, the calamity surrounding Jack Crowley’s contract situation will be resolved very soon and the blazers who make the decisions about who gets a national contract will wake up, smell the roses and give the young man what he fully deserves, which is a full three-year national contract.

Considering the historical importance of this game for Connacht, I would have been worried for Munster. 

However, with the welcoming news of so many quality players returning to the fold, I can’t see anything other than a resounding victory for Costello and his players.