MUNSTER take on Northampton Saints this weekend in the final pool game of this season’s Heineken Cup. McGahan has stuck with the same team that from last week and once more, the Guinness Premiership table toppers provide opposition to Munster on the final day. Names such as Gloucester, Sale and Leicester have all come to fortress Thomond and provide sporting occasions to remember. This Friday is assured to be no different.
Munster are top of the pool having won four from a possible five. The one defeat being at the hands of the Saints in round one. That game at Franklins Gardens was a close affair and once more Munster enter into a final pool game with it all to play for. A Munster win will secure a home quarter final. The top four group winners have that incentive to play for. An unthinkable win for Northampton would see Munster wait for the rest of the weekend’s games to see where we would be heading.
Even with the one loss record and even after the two wins over Perpignan and a magnificent win over Treviso last week, Munster captain Paul O Connell feels that his charges can still improve. “We got the opportunites last weekend from playing simple direct rugby. The Saints are excellent at the breakdown and that is an area we have done loads of work on. We need to improve in that area along with line outs and scrums. Concentration is the key for us now. If we concentrate and focus for 80 minutes chances will come. In the first game against the Saints, they wanted it more than we did and they were more clinical in all those areas I mentioned. We need to reverse that this week. There is still room to improve”.
With Marcus Horan the notable inclusion in this week’s squad and taking up a berth on the bench as cover in the front row, McGahan’s choice to stick with the same team that defeat Treviso always seemed the likely option. De Villiers and Earls were both magnificent in the centre roles and just as impressive as Hurley and Warwick were outside them.
Looking forward to the tie this week, coach Tony Mc Gahan had these words for his troops. “It really doesn’t matter what anyone writes or says about us on any part of our game, to be truthful. We are very honest and realistic on where we are with all parts of our game, whether it’s back play, kicking, line-out, maul, scrum whatever that is”
With the players minds set on a win and the fans all geared up for another classic Heineken Cup battle, all roads lead to the quarter finals, again.
We will miss this when is it gone – this excellence.
Munster: P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, J de Villiers, D Hurley; T O’Leary, R O’Gara; W du Preez, D Fogarty, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell; A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace. Replacements: D Varley, M Horan, T Buckley, D Ryan, J Coughlan, P Stringer, L Mafi, I Dowling.
