AFTER AROUND 3,000 of them made it to La Rochelle on Saturday, it’s a huge ask of the Munster fans to go on the road again next weekend.
Undoubtedly, another big crew of the Red Army will do exactly that for the province’s Champions Cup quarter-final clash away to Bordeaux next Saturday at 3pm Irish time at Stade Chaban Delmas.
Bordeaux’s status as top seeds from the pool stages meant that as soon as the French side overcame Ulster today, showing plenty of their class as they scored six tries, it was confirmed that Munster were facing another trip to France.
Munster and many of their fans flew home from La Rochelle last night, while others made the trip via Paris, Nantes, and Bordeaux today. Another trip to France now looms in just a few days.
“You won’t get too many people complaining from what I saw,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello last night before they flew out.
“There’ll be kids’ piggy banks raided. There’ll be people here, that’s the magic of it.
“There’s people that would prefer not to go on summer holidays to get two weekends like this.
“That’s what’s special about the club. I think the game will have huge support.”
It would be truly remarkable if Munster fans travel in such numbers again but there’s no doubt that the thousands who made it to La Rochelle were part of a special day in the province’s history.
In a game as close as yesterday’s at the Stade Marcel Deflandre, Munster got an extra kick from the vocal support.
“It’s incredible,” said Costello. “I don’t know if you guys were down at the port today, I’m sure you were, I went down to meet a few friends just to get out of the hotel for an hour and it’s shivers down your neck stuff.
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“I think I saw a picture of Gaillimh [Mick Galwey] up on a cherry picker singing ‘Zombie’. That’s next level.
“When we came in, someone sent us a video of the crowd outside, so we knew it was big. Northampton this year was incredible, but I hadn’t seen anything like that for a long, long time.
Peter O'Mahony with Munster fans. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“That set the tone. What it means to our supporters. There was talk of 2,000 here, there were way more than 2,000.
“We got that sense this morning, so it’s special, and that’s probably why last week [against Connacht] was so important too because we want to make sure we’ve our bread and butter looked after to be in this competition.
“The reality is now, we want to have three more days like this. You take one game at a time, but there’s no point in this being our cup final. It would nearly disrespect what the club have done.
“We’ve three matches left to have a crack at winning a trophy.”
Munster aren’t the only ones with trophy ambitions. If they can win in France for the second weekend in a row, they would face Toulouse or Toulon in the semi-finals. That would mean another trip to France on the weekend of 3/4/5 May.
On the other side of the draw, Leinster will host Glasgow at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night in the quarter-finals after their hammering of Harlequins at Croke Park yesterday.
If Leinster get past Glasgow, they will then have a home semi-final against Northampton or Castres.
Those are the routes to the final but no one can think too far ahead of next weekend.
Munster will hope to clear their bumps and bruises quickly. Jeremy Loughman’s hamstring injury is an obvious concern, but they think fullback Thaakir Abrahams could recover for the Bordeaux game.
They may also be able to welcome centre Alex Nankivell back if they decide to appeal his suspension and that appeal is successful.
“We’ve a decision,” said Costello last night. “The hearing was only on Wednesday, so a challenging time between the URC hearing and we’d to have that appeal by 12pm on Friday.
“So we’ve a decision to make now as a club, do we appeal that, and we’ll make that decision tomorrow because the appeal will be Monday if it is.”
Jack Crowley and Craig Casey celebrate. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Whatever way that pans out, Munster’s confidence has been boosted by what they achieved in La Rochelle.
Bordeaux will obviously be favourites next Saturday at the Chaban Delmas but Munster’s self-belief is growing.
“That’s a huge part of every team and you put a bit of evidence to that and you’ve got conviction, you’ve got belief and now you’ve evidence to back it up, and you’ve got those milestones,” said Costello.
“We thought we were going really well up to the Edinburgh game, if I’m honest. We’d gone from 13th in the league back up to fifth and we messed up against Edinburgh, badly. And that hurt us because there’s certain key things that you look at, your identity and your DNA, and we let ourselves and our supporters down.
“Then we went out against Glasgow and played far better and then just lost that in the last few minutes. So we knew that there was a good foundation there. So we never lost confidence in that and then to deliver in Connacht last week was very important.
“And then this is next level. It’s to understand that we can go against a heavyweight team like that, when we’re a full strength.
“That’s the bit that’s frustrating, when you read stuff and your hear stuff, when we’re at full strength, and we have that depth, and you’ve guys like Jack O’Donoghue, Brian Gleeson, Ruadhán Quinn, who are playing out of their skin, not in the matchday 23 today and we’ve still got backs to come back.
“When we have a full squad that’s robust and competitive, I think we’re capable of beating teams like that, and that’s where we need to be towards the end of the season.”
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'There’ll be kids' piggy banks raided' - Munster go on the road again
AFTER AROUND 3,000 of them made it to La Rochelle on Saturday, it’s a huge ask of the Munster fans to go on the road again next weekend.
Undoubtedly, another big crew of the Red Army will do exactly that for the province’s Champions Cup quarter-final clash away to Bordeaux next Saturday at 3pm Irish time at Stade Chaban Delmas.
Bordeaux’s status as top seeds from the pool stages meant that as soon as the French side overcame Ulster today, showing plenty of their class as they scored six tries, it was confirmed that Munster were facing another trip to France.
Munster and many of their fans flew home from La Rochelle last night, while others made the trip via Paris, Nantes, and Bordeaux today. Another trip to France now looms in just a few days.
“You won’t get too many people complaining from what I saw,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello last night before they flew out.
“There’ll be kids’ piggy banks raided. There’ll be people here, that’s the magic of it.
“There’s people that would prefer not to go on summer holidays to get two weekends like this.
“That’s what’s special about the club. I think the game will have huge support.”
It would be truly remarkable if Munster fans travel in such numbers again but there’s no doubt that the thousands who made it to La Rochelle were part of a special day in the province’s history.
In a game as close as yesterday’s at the Stade Marcel Deflandre, Munster got an extra kick from the vocal support.
“It’s incredible,” said Costello. “I don’t know if you guys were down at the port today, I’m sure you were, I went down to meet a few friends just to get out of the hotel for an hour and it’s shivers down your neck stuff.
“I think I saw a picture of Gaillimh [Mick Galwey] up on a cherry picker singing ‘Zombie’. That’s next level.
“When we came in, someone sent us a video of the crowd outside, so we knew it was big. Northampton this year was incredible, but I hadn’t seen anything like that for a long, long time.
“That set the tone. What it means to our supporters. There was talk of 2,000 here, there were way more than 2,000.
“We got that sense this morning, so it’s special, and that’s probably why last week [against Connacht] was so important too because we want to make sure we’ve our bread and butter looked after to be in this competition.
“The reality is now, we want to have three more days like this. You take one game at a time, but there’s no point in this being our cup final. It would nearly disrespect what the club have done.
“We’ve three matches left to have a crack at winning a trophy.”
Munster aren’t the only ones with trophy ambitions. If they can win in France for the second weekend in a row, they would face Toulouse or Toulon in the semi-finals. That would mean another trip to France on the weekend of 3/4/5 May.
On the other side of the draw, Leinster will host Glasgow at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night in the quarter-finals after their hammering of Harlequins at Croke Park yesterday.
If Leinster get past Glasgow, they will then have a home semi-final against Northampton or Castres.
Those are the routes to the final but no one can think too far ahead of next weekend.
Munster will hope to clear their bumps and bruises quickly. Jeremy Loughman’s hamstring injury is an obvious concern, but they think fullback Thaakir Abrahams could recover for the Bordeaux game.
They may also be able to welcome centre Alex Nankivell back if they decide to appeal his suspension and that appeal is successful.
“We’ve a decision,” said Costello last night. “The hearing was only on Wednesday, so a challenging time between the URC hearing and we’d to have that appeal by 12pm on Friday.
“So we’ve a decision to make now as a club, do we appeal that, and we’ll make that decision tomorrow because the appeal will be Monday if it is.”
Whatever way that pans out, Munster’s confidence has been boosted by what they achieved in La Rochelle.
Bordeaux will obviously be favourites next Saturday at the Chaban Delmas but Munster’s self-belief is growing.
“That’s a huge part of every team and you put a bit of evidence to that and you’ve got conviction, you’ve got belief and now you’ve evidence to back it up, and you’ve got those milestones,” said Costello.
“We thought we were going really well up to the Edinburgh game, if I’m honest. We’d gone from 13th in the league back up to fifth and we messed up against Edinburgh, badly. And that hurt us because there’s certain key things that you look at, your identity and your DNA, and we let ourselves and our supporters down.
“Then we went out against Glasgow and played far better and then just lost that in the last few minutes. So we knew that there was a good foundation there. So we never lost confidence in that and then to deliver in Connacht last week was very important.
“And then this is next level. It’s to understand that we can go against a heavyweight team like that, when we’re a full strength.
“That’s the bit that’s frustrating, when you read stuff and your hear stuff, when we’re at full strength, and we have that depth, and you’ve guys like Jack O’Donoghue, Brian Gleeson, Ruadhán Quinn, who are playing out of their skin, not in the matchday 23 today and we’ve still got backs to come back.
“When we have a full squad that’s robust and competitive, I think we’re capable of beating teams like that, and that’s where we need to be towards the end of the season.”
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bon voyage Champions Cup Draw Ian Costello Munster