HERE THEY GO again.
If you want the short version, look no further than Denis Leamy’s succinct summation of Munster’s visit to Northampton in the Champions Cup this weekend.
“It’s Europe, it’s Munster in England against the Premiership leaders.
“Written off. It’s Munster.”
It sure is Munster. We’ve been here many times before. They’ve even renewed these backs-against-the-walls victories on the road as their calling card under Graham Rowntree, winning all three of last season’s URC knock-out games away from home.
This trope in the Champions Cup continued with their pool win away to Toulon this season. It certainly wasn’t a vintage Toulon side but it was Munster’s best performance of the campaign so far when they needed it to keep their knock-out hopes alive.
In truth, this has been a patchy season for Rowntree’s men and that’s why this Sunday’s Round of 16 clash in Northampton feels like a crossroads moment.
Win and the business end of their season has been ignited. Lose and one can only view their Champions Cup campaign as very disappointing. The reality is that Munster limped into this tie against the Saints. Their pool effort amounted to a final-quarter collapse away to Exeter, a miserable draw at home against Bayonne, that impressive win in Toulon, then another poor defeat when Northampton visited Thomond Park.
All of that will be overlooked if Munster can succeed against the odds at Franklin’s Gardens this weekend. A 12.30pm kick-off might not seem ideal but the quality of the contest should spark a raucous atmosphere, with Munster expecting around 3,500 of their supporters to be present among a crowd of 15,000.
Northampton are six-point favourites, deservedly so. They beat Glasgow, Toulon, Bayonne, and Munster in their pool campaign, making them third seeds for the knock-out stages behind only Toulouse and Leinster. Phil Dowson’s side are top of the Premiership table too.
So Leamy can see why some people fancy Northampton to get the job done, even while he stresses that Munster don’t want to “overplay” the sense that they’re being written off.
“That’s not what we’re about in terms of that siege mentality,” said Leamy. “But Northampton have earned the right to be favourites, they’ve earned the right to be spoken about with the way they play the game.
“You look at the English internationals they have. Alex Mitchell will probably return and he’s a fantastic player for them, makes them tick. Look at a player like Fin Smith, he’s probably going to be a Lion or certainly an English player for a number of years.”
Leamy also mentioned the “aggressive, athletic” Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, and hooker Curtis Langdon.
“It’s a big task and that’s why people will make them favourites and say Munster have a difficult job to do.
“We’ve got to fall back on our abilities. We’ve had the ability to go on the road. We’ve won in Glasgow, Dublin, Cape Town last year. We’ve gone to Toulon. We’re good enough to go to Northampton and put in a performance. If that’s good enough on the day, absolutely brilliant.”
If Munster can pull this off, they will face either the Bulls or Lyon in the quarter-finals next weekend. That would mean travelling to South Africa if the Bulls won or a trip to France if Lyon can cause an upset in Pretoria this weekend.
As must be the case, Munster have made provisional plans for either scenario. They would fly to South Africa next Tuesday and stay for three weeks to take in their URC clashes against the Bulls and the Lions. If it’s Lyon, they would fly out to France later next week.
But that’s all happening in the background, of course. Northampton’s win in Thomond Park on a miserable night in January when they were reduced to 14 men after Langdon’s 40th-minute red card was another demonstration of their ability in an impressive season.
Munster are hopeful RG Synman will be fit to start but right wing Calvin Nash is a big doubt, while injured tighthead prop Oli Jager is likely to be missed.
Northampton have injury concerns of their own and while scrum-half Mitchell seems likely to start, fullback George Furbank has to prove his fitness after a recent calf injury.
It’s a big one for Munster and shaping up as the kind of day when Leamy would love to still be a player rather than a coach.
“It’s exactly what Munster are about,” he said. “You think about going to Gloucester in ’08 [for the quarter-final when Munster won 16-3]. It feels a little bit like this.
“We defended for 20 minutes. Someone found Federico Pucciariello out having a burger in the car park and he came on and wins us the game full of chips.
“Gloucester were an incredible side at the time, I think they were the English champions. So there certainly is that feel to it and you certainly miss days like that when you’re retired.”
While they’ve paid due respect to Northampton by doing their homework, Leamy says this one is all about what Munster can deliver themselves.
“You need to have a good foundation up front,” said Leamy, “so that’s really important.
“And when we get our attack flowing, and we do it more often than not, we’re a real handful. Possession-based team looking for high possession, high phases, high work rate, speed, everything we talk about.
“Then when they’re in possession, the ability to go toe-to-toe with them. Analysing their attack, they throw so many varieties of types of attack. They can go to width, they can go through you, they disguise their plays really well. They have a lot of power in terms of players like [Ollie] Sleightholme on the wing, Furbank, these guys.
“They’re very gifted players so how we control the contacts, taking time away from their ball players, controlling the contact, trying to get two into the tackle, slowing up their breakdown, all those controllable and battles are key.”
It whets the appetite. Bring on Sunday afternoon.
