Munster head coach Graham Rowntree remains confident in his team’s ability to overcome Leinster, despite coming off a defeat to Exeter Chiefs in the Champions Cup in their previous outing.
This upcoming clash marks the second encounter between the two sides in the last five weeks, with Leinster securing a dramatic 21-16 victory over Munster in Dublin. The stage is now set for a captivating battle as the teams collide at Thomond Park.
Rowntree emphasized that there were several positives to take from the loss to Exeter, and he reiterated his unwavering faith in the team’s capabilities.
“I am confident, do you know why? I trust the group,” shared Rowntree with the Irish Examiner. “We did some very good things in Exeter. Sixty-three minutes we were still ahead, having scored four tries, and then what happened happened. We’ve had a look at that, and had a look at the composure, but we still scored four tries, we still scored 12 tries in the last three games. We’re doing a lot of good things, and we’ll need those good things in our next game.”
Following the clash with Exeter, Munster conducted an extensive analysis, with Rowntree expressing his belief that certain issues have been addressed during training sessions.
“It’s about learning. We have to learn from it. You look at some of our composure bits from the last quarter of the game… those pieces, that’s composure, because with 63 minutes we were on our game but we’ve just got to be better in those moments, particularly in a game where in the second half we hadn’t had a lot of possession. We didn’t see the ball a lot in that second half and we were into a swirling wind as well. We certainly dissected it. We had a thorough review; the players are honest enough to recognize their contributions, and then we headed out to practice, which we’ve certainly done.”
While Leinster may be without some players due to game time restrictions imposed by the Irish Rugby Football Union, Rowntree maintains that they present threats from various quarters. He also highlighted Leinster’s heightened defensive line speed, a trademark characteristic of a Jacques Nienaber defensive setup.
“They have threats everywhere. They have power threats in the maul, giving them access to our tryline will be a challenge not to do that, because they have a good maul and hookers who like breaking from mauls. Kicking a bit more then they have been. They’ve increased their linespeed, but they’ve got some incredible ball carriers across the whole team, and they’ll challenge us in most areas,” remarked Rowntree. “They have threats everywhere; power game, attacking the seams, their phase-attack has nice little shapes inside and outside of 10. They play quick as well. That’s pretty much it. Apart from all that, they’re quite a boring team.”
As Munster prepares for the upcoming encounter, Rowntree emphasized the importance of pursuing victory in every match, particularly against the formidable Irish international team, acknowledging the significance of the impending showdown for the team’s aspirations.
