Munster go into their restored Christmas derby against Leinster at Thomond Park next Monday (kick-off 7.35pm, live on TG4 and Premier Sport) with the kind of momentum that mightn’t have seemed likely heading into the November break.
Having lost five of their first seven games, Munster have won four of their last five. Yet they remain a team in transition, under a new coaching ticket, so have they evolved sufficiently to overturn their 27-13 against the same opponents at the Aviva Stadium last October?
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“Yeah, I suppose that’s the big question,” admits attack coach Mike Prendergast. “It’s an interesting question. We look at performance first and if we can get our detail right and be incredibly aggressive - because I think it’s something that maybe is overlooked when you look at Leinster and their shape and skills - but they’re incredibly aggressive on their carries and they generate that quick ball that becomes a hard thing to defend.
“So, I think if we get those aspects of our game right, I firmly believe we can win this game. It will be a huge challenge and we are still on that journey. There’s still steps forward to make.
“It’s still early enough, we’ve probably been together for six months, and games-wise three and a half/four months, but every week we’re looking to add little layers to our game, and sometimes that hasn’t come off, or we haven’t shown it yet.
“It is a framework that’s evolving. I do think that going back to the Bulls game there has been good improvements in it. I know at the start of the season it probably didn’t show as much but you can see what we’re trying to do in training and how quick we want to move, that it is starting to come through at game time. "
Munster’s only win in the last ten meetings of these two came against a weakened Leinster side in the unlamented Rainbow Cup, and that includes three losses in a row at Thomond Park. But this is a new slate under Graham Rowntree, and that applies to the opposition as well as themselves.
“I genuinely don’t think there is,” Prendergast said when asked if Munster might have mental baggage coming into this fixture. “Since Graham has come in as the head coach, and we’ve come in as the staff with him, he has talked about a new fresh start and that’s with everything, the different opposition, the different competitions. We’ve just spoken about what we can do since we’ve came in. It’s no different to this weekend.”
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Nonetheless, Prendergast acknowledged that beating opponents whom he described as Europe’s top side “would be huge”. He was also asked what aspect of Leinster’s game he most admired.
“I think it’s their variation to be honest with you, their ability to hold onto the ball in attack and they’ve multiple kicking options across their backline. Any space that is there they have the ability to find it and get it into that space quite early, whether through their shape and their framework, or those offensive kicking games.
“Defensively they’re very hard to break down, but I suppose the one thing that we did allude to this week is their maul, because it’s an aspect to their game which has always been very strong, but I think it has probably gone to a new level this season.”
The demands of this marquee fixture in their calendar require Munster to put their best foot forward again, with Gavin Coombes among many who will be playing his fifth game in five weeks.
Yet clearly the Skibbereen number eight is benefitting from this regular game time, and the wonder was his display last Sunday in Franklin’s Gardens - scoring the game’s only two tries and leading Munster’s tackling and carrying charts - didn’t earn him the Man of the Match award.
Coombes carries a heavy load for Munster, but at 6′ 6″ and 110kg, he’s built to do so.
“Yeah, he’s a big unit for sure,” said Prendergast. “You know what, when you look at his performance you obviously look at the amount of carries he makes but I think the thing that stood out at the weekend was that he made 29 individual tackles. That’s a huge shift for a guy who carries a lot of ball as well.
“Gav was quite harsh on himself at the start of the season; he felt he was a small bit under. I think over the last few weeks he’s shown a huge amount on both sides of the ball, and on the weekend against Northampton was probably his best performance.
“There is a lot more in him. He’s an incredibly strong man, he does give us a lot going forward and he’s been working on his skills with ball in hand and that’s starting to shine through.
“He’s got a bright future, he’s a great lad. He’s a hard worker and what I like about him is that he’s quite self-critical in that we can all see him carry, but he knows he needs to add a few more layers to his game and he’s in the process of [doing] that at the moment.
“He’s getting back to the form that we have seen from him over the last few years, with a few added extras.”
