WHILE Leinster must regret sparing most of their star players at times, Munster are basking in the knowledge that a win over Glasgow Warriors in the semi-final at Thomond Park on Saturday (6pm) would earn Graham Rowntree’s side a dream home advantage in the URC showdown.
The other semi between the Vodacom Bulls and Leinster is earlier in the day (3pm) at Loftus Versfield, Pretoria.
A win for Munster over the Scottish visitors and the Grand Final will take place in Limerick on Saturday week (June 22), 5pm.
The Warriors will certainly put it up to Munster and their performance in the quarter-final against the Stormers was impressive.
They appear to be finding their form in recent games in this competition and they certainly showed a lot of power and quality recently with left wing Kyle Steyn, second row Richie Gray, and Argentinian Sebastian Cancelliere outstanding of late.
Recent Man of the Match winner George Horne has been pulling the strings this season and Warriors’ coach Franco Smith singled out the number ten after their latest victory.
Munster’s form at present has to be admired.
10 wins in a row is a rare achievement at this level. The Reds will go into this next hurdle with confidence and ambition.
The home side should get the better of the Warriors and a Munster v Leinster final would be nice, very nice for local fans.
Head coach Rowntree shared his view of the Ospreys game: “I felt we could have come away with a better victory but I give credit to the Ospreys. We’re delighted to be in the semi-final but knock-out rugby is not always glamorous.”
It’s been a long season for the players, particularly for those in the international camp who will be heading off to IRFU headquarters a few weeks after the URC final.
There were no injury issues from the win over the Ospreys and at the time of going to press, and there is a chance that Alex Nankivell, who took part in training this week, may be named.
Joey Carbery and Tom Ahern are unavailable through injury.
