MUNSTER rugby are back in competitive action this Saturday night as they take on Edinburgh in Murrayfield. The week one RaboDirect Pro12 game of the season sees Rob Penney take charge of Munster for the very first time. Penney is joined in a new look backroom team by former Racing Metro backs coach Simon Mannix and also by former Munster and Ireland forwards coach Niall O’Donovan.
Speaking ahead of the game this weekend, where Munster will be without their Irish internationals, (Those who toured to New Zealand, plus Paul O’Connell, will return in week three and four of the season) O’Donovan has asked the Munster supporters for some patience as the new look team takes shape.
“Well you see, one of the major changes since my time here last is that people don’t expect Munster to lose any more, where as 12 or 14 years ago, people were just thrilled when we won a game. The tables have turned completely, there was no huge expectation, whereas now there is expectation to win all the games, even though we are in a very similar place that we were 12 or 14 years ago, we are trying to build, we are trying to give guys some game time and trying to allow them learn through their mistakes, and trying to get people to be a bit more patient while they are doing that and give them the support while they are doing that. Now more than ever we need the supporters to get behind Munster, it is easy to support them when things are going well, but we need to be patient and support them even more now”.
Rob Penney has built a reputation over time for developing younger players and allowing them time on the pitch. O’Donovan agrees that young talent is the way forward and sees the AIL and the current British and Irish cup set ups as the avenues to that goal.
“I think the AIL is undervalued the way it is at the moment and there should be more players released down with the AIL to bring it up. You will probably never get it up to where it was 15 years ago, but it has been left die for the last couple of years. I see it as a great stepping stone for young fellas to actually play and the issues that are arising now are your limiting in what you can play. So when you limit it to two players, what happens to the rest of the players? This leaves the door open for the ‘A’ team to come in and more and more A matches, which again will have a knock on affect. It will affect the clubs even more. If something could be done there to get more and more players playing AIL then I’d have no problem or no issue with that”.
A lot is being made in local rugby circles about Munster’s new gameplan. At first sight, the gameplan seems to be expansive and free flowing. All of this of course is based on a huge kicking game and intensity at the breakdown. Munster’s new gameplan is something the players seem to be struggling with. If the pre-season games are anything to go by.
Niall O’Donovan admitted this week, that fans can expect to see a different Munster from Tony Mc Gahan’s side.
“Guys are playing slightly different style, they are doing things differently, they are still learning, they are making mistakes at vital times and they are learning from those mistakes. We just have to be patient with them while they are developing and hopefully there will be a wee bit more penetration this weekend than we saw last weekend. When we start doing one or two other simple things well, then they will recognise a change or style, there is no doubt about that”
Looking ahead to this weekend, Munster have begun their new campaigns with a win in four of the past five seasons. The Munstermen’s only victory away from home in their last four trips was 20-16 at Connacht on 24 March. Munster have lost just one of their last ten encounters with Scottish opponents. In the history of the tournament the two sides have met on 21 previous occasions, with Edinburgh victorious on just five occasions.
Munster’s first home game of the new season is against Treviso on September 7.
On the local front this weekend, Shannon face UL Bohemians, while Young Munsters face Garryowen in the semi finals of the Limerick Charity Cup. For the details on the times and venues for these games, please see page 79 of this weeks Limerick Post.
