LEINSTER ARE EXPECTING Joey Carbery to help the Munster attack ask more questions of their defence in the Guinness Pro14 final on Saturday at the RDS.
Munster are on a five-game losing streak against their inter-provincial rivals but Carbery’s recent return from a long-term ankle injury has been a big boost.
The Athy man sat out last weekend’s win over Benetton but is expected to be at out-half for Munster on Saturday against his former province, who know all about his qualities.
“We’ve played Munster a good few times this year and they’re a top-quality team, their attack is getting better and better and having Joey coming back in, he’s a world-class player, he’ll take their attack to another level as well,” said Leinster’s Jordan Larmour.
“They’re a big, physical team, they’re throwing the ball around a bit more and obviously their kicking game is very good so it will be a tough challenge but one we’re looking forward to.”
Larmour has just returned to Leinster from Ireland’s Six Nations campaign and he, like everyone else, had to immediately switch mindset.
“We were joking about that to each other, how weird it is to be going from good mates and living with each other the last eight weeks to then going out and trying to kick lumps out of each other,” said Larmour.
“We’re pretty used to it at this stage. They want to win as much as we want to win so both teams have massive motivation behind them.”
Leinster are aiming to secure their fourth consecutive Pro14 title under Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster, while Munster are targeting their first trophy in a decade.
With European round-of-16 ties to come the weekend after, Larmour and co. are in the middle of a very busy time in the calendar.
“It’s good to be back here with finals rugby coming up this weekend and then Toulon next weekend, so it’s rugby we’re looking forward to playing. We want to be playing in these final games.
“Munster haven’t won a final in a good few years and then obviously having CJ [Stander] and Billy [Holland, both of whom are retiring at the end of the season], they don’t need any more motivation than that.”
