Munster host Stormers with a chance to pull clear in URC table

Munster welcome South African giants the Stormers to Thomond Park on Saturday evening in a top-of-the-table URC clash knowing that victory could put them in the box seat for the remainder of the campaign.

Going into this weekend the Stormers and Munster are both on 23 points after their five fixtures to date, three points clear of Glasgow and Cardiff. Whoever comes out on top here will have pulled clear. For Munster, this could prove vital, as they know they have to travel to South Africa in late March to face the Sharks and the Bulls. 

They could certainly do with a bit of leeway at that crucial time of the season, rather than travelling to the southern hemisphere requiring results, like they have had to do in previous campaigns.

The Stormers will be short their sizeable Springbok contingent, as they will be in Cardiff finishing off their Autumn International campaign against hapless Wales. Munster head coach Clayton McMillan is balancing the workload of his returning Irish internationals, with the upcoming Champions Cup fixtures to Bath and Gloucester in mind.

The bottom line is that the likes of Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley and Craig Casey cannot play in all these fixtures, so it will be a delicate balancing act for McMillan to select which games he is going to utilise his main players. 

Historically, this would have been a simple call, as Munster would just have played the first team in Europe every single time.

Due to the increase in the status of the URC as a competition, as well as the dilution of the Champions Cup due to its current format, one can easily make the case that the Stormers game this weekend is of more importance to one of the Champions Cup ties.

Plus, being pragmatic, McMillan may decide that he may not need to use his strongest squad for the SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh clash against Gloucester, given they are second from bottom of the Guinness Premiership, and winless. The smart move might be to divert resources, such as Crowley, to this weekend.

This week’s team announcement was interesting in this regard, as Beirne, Crowley and Casey are all included, telling us a lot about Munster’s new coach and where the priorities lie.

All Irish rugby fans are still smarting from the chastening the Springbok scrum dished out to Ireland last Saturday night, so inevitably there is likely to be a collective intake of breath amongst home fans when the two front rows lock down for the first few scrums.

The hope would be that Munster will not be infected by what happened at the Aviva Stadium, given no Munster personnel were involved, and also the fact that the Boks are still on the go so they will not be in Limerick.

POSITIVE

Earlier this week Munster had a positive update on the injury front with Thaakir Abrahams, Diarmuid Barron, Conor Bartley, Mike Haley, John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen and Niall Scannell all announced as returning to training, while Edwin Edogbo’s availability was to be determined later in the week.

There remains a bit of a cloud over the tight head situation right now, with Oli Jager requiring clearance from a specialist before he can see action on the pitch anytime soon, due to the concussion issues he has experienced in the past year.

Everyone will be hoping for good news on that front, and it is required as we still have not seen Roman Salanoa in action for Munster’s first team, after over two and a half years out now, even though there were encouraging run outs for Nenagh Ormonde and Munster A.

Former Leinster player Michael Ala’alatoa joins the club on Monday to fill the gap here, with him joining on a seven-month loan deal, but for this weekend they will have to do without.

The Stormers are obviously extremely dangerous opponents, as shown by their lofty league placing, and this is driven home by the fact that they have won their last three away league matches at Scarlets, Zebre and Benetton.

Munster will be aware that they need to reach something approaching the levels they reached at Croke Park in October to take down Leinster. Achieve that, and they will be there or thereabouts.