NOTHING QUITE LIKE a semi-final date with Leinster to sharpen tired minds at this stage of the season, but Munster are under no illusions of the size of the task awaiting them at the RDS in a fortnight.
Johann van Graan’s side kept their season alive with a hard-fought quarter-final win over Edinburgh on Saturday, but will need to make huge improvements across the board if they are to end a seven-year wait for silverware.
Not only do Munster face a formidable trip to Dublin to face Leinster in the last four, but do so having lost six semi-final ties, as well as two final defeats, since last claiming the Pro12 title back in 2011.
The southern province fell at the final hurdle in the Pro12 last term, losing to a rampant Scarlets side at the Aviva Stadium, and going one step further this time around would be a major fillip for a young side in the first year of van Graan’s tutelage.
“Yeah, it would, it would mean a lot,” captain Peter O’Mahony says. “But we’ve got to go and play. There was some very good stuff on Saturday. But then there is stuff, if we’re going to go and compete with the best teams around, we have to improve upon.
“And we have to understand that. It would mean a huge amount to win silverware, it means a huge amount to any team considering the effort you put in every year. But we have to understand we need to improve in certain areas.”
O’Mahony didn’t go into specifics, but on the evidence of Saturday’s performance, there are a couple of areas which will be focused on when the squad returns to their University of Limerick base today.
A European hangover was only natural, but Munster lacked any sort of intensity during the first half and that seeped into all aspects of their game, with a missed tackle count of 38 most concerning.
In the end, Rhys Marshall’s opportunistic score, Simon Zebo’s moment of magic and some dogged and resilient defensive work got Munster over the line and heading towards Dublin for a straight shootout with their inter-pro rivals.
“Well, when you talk about Leinster, it’s across the board,” O’Mahony continued. “They’re playing so well at the moment. You start with your set-piece. It has got to be functioning, it has to be offering you a platform. The breakdown stuff, across the board, you have to up your game by about 20% when you’re playing against teams like that.
“You saw with Edinburgh how good they were. We really needed to up our game at times. Sometimes we did but sometimes we struggled. So there are a lot of areas.”
Van Graan agrees, and offers that Leinster are currently the best team in Europe, having seen their power and strength in depth up close on St Stephen’s Day last year when Jordan Larmour’s virtuoso score completed an impressive raid of Thomond Park.
“I’ve only coached against them once, here in Thomond Park,” the head coach explained.
“There’s no weaknesses in their team. I think there’s 19 of their guys featured in the Grand Slam. They’ve got a quality coaching set-up and they’ve got a good academy and they perform well on big days.
“They’ve lost a few in the last few weeks but on big days they do perform. Good luck to them in the Champions Cup and like I said, we’ll do our preparation and looking forward to the game in two weeks time.”
The South African installs them as favourites to beat Racing 92 in Bilbao on Saturday.
“Yea, I would do so,” he nods.
Munster will watch on with interest, and with more than a degree of discomfort, ahead of their RDS meeting on 19 May, but their focus this week will be fine-tuning their own preparations.
Van Graan could also be boosted by the return of several players for the Pro14 semi-final, with South African centre Jaco Taute nearing a comeback after a long-term knee injury.
“Jaco Taute is possibly a guy who could feature,” he added. “We might have Niall Scannell available. We might have John Ryan available.
“There’s also one or two long-term injuries that we might have available. I don’t want to speculate at this stage but those few are certainly guys we hope to have back.”
Jean Kleyn picked up a knock against Edinburgh, and Munster will provide an update on his fitness later today.
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