Munster rugby talking points ahead of Champions Cup clash in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh

Sporting history will be made in Cork on Saturday as SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh hosts its first ever Investec Champions Cup tie as Munster host old foes Gloucester in a clash that is already a game of the must-win variety after last week’s sobering 40-14 defeat to Bath.

Wake-up call:

If Munster were in danger of becoming cocky on the back of winning the opening five games of their URC campaign the manner of the defeats to the Stormers two weeks ago and Bath in Round 1 of this competition last week will certainly have put manners on the two-time champions.

The English champions destroyed Munster last Saturday, with the win in the bag after just 18 minutes when they already led by a huge 28-0 margin.

Key to Munster’s disastrous start was the fact that they lost their first five lineouts, which had the knock-on effect of presenting Bath with easy access to the Munster 22, and led directly to the first try and sin-binning of Munster captain Tadhg Beirne.

The lineout got better, but the damage was done. The week before against the Stormers, the Munster scrum was in disarray and now it was the lineout that let them down. They must get the set piece in working order if they have any notions of progressing to the knockout stages of this competition.

It was not just the set-piece where Munster were guilty of committing basic errors either. 

The entire back three of Shane Daly, Diarmuid Kilgallen and Thaakir Abrahams struggled under the high ball all day, gifting Bath easy territory gains and a platform to attack the Munster scrum.

This sloppiness must be eliminated all over the pitch this weekend.

Full deck:

The Munster confidence levels dipped considerably last week when the news broke that Jack Crowley would miss the trip to the Rec, and optimism certainly was not improved when Jean Kleyn and Michael Milne both had to cry off on the day of the game, as it meant that the 23-man squad was suddenly down considerable heft.

Kleyn and Milne should help to solidify the scrum this weekend and make the Munster maul more menacing, while Crowley is Munster’s leader behind the scrum and is a big game player. A big European night, in his hometown, in front of a full and boisterous home crowd. It does not get much bigger than that in this country.

Andrew Smith and Jack O’Donoghue are also likely to be available for selection again, while there were a number of notable performances from members of the squad last weekend in the AIL, with Shay McCarthy, Danny Sheehan and Ben O’Connor all catching the eye for their respective clubs with a brace each, as Clayton McMillan has a strong panel to pick from for the weekend.

Christmas Miracle:

If you are looking for an early Christmas drinking game, then you could do worse than have a festive tipple every time the famous Miracle Match from 22 years ago is mentioned in the build-up.

That game was the famous Round 6 clash between Munster and Gloucester at Thomond Park, where Munster needed to win by 27 points to progress, while securing a four-try bonus point, and they managed to do exactly that, when John Kelly’s late try was converted by Ronan O’Gara to leave the scoreline reading 33-6 at the final whistle, to send the Thomond faithful wild.

The two clubs have met many times since, but there has never been a game as significant as that one, with the last big game being the Champions Cup clash at Kingsholm in January 2019, when Joey Carbery had arguably his finest hour in Munster colours when inspiring them to a 41-15 win.

With Gloucester second from bottom of the Guinness Premiership and having won their Round 1 game, when Charlie Atkinson’s late try ensured they took all five points on offer against Castres last weekend in their 34-14 win, the expectation is they might not be fully focused on their trip to Cork this weekend.

They certainly have bigger priorities right now.

With that in mind and noting that we can expect a big Munster reaction following the trashing they received in Bath last weekend, the likelihood is that no miracles will be required on Leeside on Saturday, and that Munster should be able to grab the five points they require to get their campaign up and running.