Benetton visit Cork on Friday night in the final round of the URC regular season.
Eighth hosts seventh.
The Italians will be gunning for a big win on the road to seal a quarter-final place, but Munster have home advantage. The southern province have also been boosted by last Friday night’s win over Ulster at Thomond Park.
After a chaotic first half, Munster pulled clear as their bench made a positive impact in a crucial bonus-point win.
Munster could still qualify for the URC quarter-finals if they lose to Benetton this weekend, but they would need both Cardiff and Edinburgh to also lose.
Instead, they’re aiming to seal a play-off on the road by beating the Italians in style at Virgin Media Park.
“I think it’s really, really important we don’t look beyond next week,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello after the win over Ulster.
“We came into this expecting to need two wins and we laid it out at the start and then we drew it back to one.
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“It was a derby, we knew they were as strong as they’ve been. Talking to Richie [Murphy] beforehand, he felt it was the strongest squad he’s had for a year and a half, that was the strongest squad we’ve had for a long time too, and we even lost Oli [Jager] and Barronsey [Diarmuid Barron] during the week.
“And we know that the likes of Northampton, who are having a great season, we know we can go toe-to-toe in those games away from home but tonight was about Thomond Park, it was about a performance, it was about trying to achieve something as a group.
“But the job is literally 50% done. It’s half time.
“We’ve got to go and have as good a week as we had this week leading into Cork and then we’ve got to finish the job in Cork, and then we’ve got a week to think about play-offs or think about travel arrangements.
“But that will be irrelevant if we don’t do the job next week.”
Should Munster secure their quarter-final, they’ll be away to Leinster, Bulls, Glasgow, or the Sharks.
Whatever comes next, Munster enjoyed giving Peter O’Mahony, Stephen Archer, and Conor Murray an enjoyable farewell to Thomond Park on Friday night.
O’Mahony could have been player of the match as he scored a try, assisted two, and had a few other eye-catching moments.
The 35-year-old will be seriously missed.
“It’s Peter’s presence,” said Costello. “Peter makes people around him better. He makes coaches better. He holds people to account. He drives standards, as other great players at Munster have done before him.
“The opposition fear him when they see in the team sheet. He frees up other people around him by doing a lot of the dirty work, and some of the flashy stuff with the assists.
“But what an opportunity now for the rest of the group to model his behaviour and kick on, and that’s what’s exciting.
“We’ve a lot of caps leaving the organisation, but what a great opportunity for the likes of Nanks [Alex Nankivell] and other great leaders within the group to push on now and drive the club forward.”
The retiring duo of O’Mahony and Archer, as well as the departing Murray, will likely be involved against Benetton this weekend too, while Costello said Munster are inspired to step up for a few other players too.
“Look, Killer [Dave Kilcoyne] is unfortunately retiring as well, Rory [Scannell] is on 199 caps, Craig Casey is at 99 caps, so there’s a lot of things and that’s what is important.
“Yeah, of course, league tables are important, how much the group care for each other, how connected they are and how we want to make these occasions special.
“This season, especially the last couple of weeks, hasn’t been where we’d like it to be after a really good run before that so now it’s about getting to the stage where we’re able to win those big games when we’re under pressure, that delivering under pressure is key and we if we do a job next week, we can look forward to the play-offs then.
“But we’ll give the boys hopefully a really good send-off in Cork next week.”
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'It's half time' - Munster's URC fate is in their own hands
MUNSTER’S FATE IS in their own hands.
Benetton visit Cork on Friday night in the final round of the URC regular season.
Eighth hosts seventh.
The Italians will be gunning for a big win on the road to seal a quarter-final place, but Munster have home advantage. The southern province have also been boosted by last Friday night’s win over Ulster at Thomond Park.
After a chaotic first half, Munster pulled clear as their bench made a positive impact in a crucial bonus-point win.
Munster could still qualify for the URC quarter-finals if they lose to Benetton this weekend, but they would need both Cardiff and Edinburgh to also lose.
Instead, they’re aiming to seal a play-off on the road by beating the Italians in style at Virgin Media Park.
“I think it’s really, really important we don’t look beyond next week,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello after the win over Ulster.
“We came into this expecting to need two wins and we laid it out at the start and then we drew it back to one.
“It was a derby, we knew they were as strong as they’ve been. Talking to Richie [Murphy] beforehand, he felt it was the strongest squad he’s had for a year and a half, that was the strongest squad we’ve had for a long time too, and we even lost Oli [Jager] and Barronsey [Diarmuid Barron] during the week.
“And we know that the likes of Northampton, who are having a great season, we know we can go toe-to-toe in those games away from home but tonight was about Thomond Park, it was about a performance, it was about trying to achieve something as a group.
“But the job is literally 50% done. It’s half time.
“We’ve got to go and have as good a week as we had this week leading into Cork and then we’ve got to finish the job in Cork, and then we’ve got a week to think about play-offs or think about travel arrangements.
“But that will be irrelevant if we don’t do the job next week.”
Should Munster secure their quarter-final, they’ll be away to Leinster, Bulls, Glasgow, or the Sharks.
Whatever comes next, Munster enjoyed giving Peter O’Mahony, Stephen Archer, and Conor Murray an enjoyable farewell to Thomond Park on Friday night.
O’Mahony could have been player of the match as he scored a try, assisted two, and had a few other eye-catching moments.
The 35-year-old will be seriously missed.
“It’s Peter’s presence,” said Costello. “Peter makes people around him better. He makes coaches better. He holds people to account. He drives standards, as other great players at Munster have done before him.
“The opposition fear him when they see in the team sheet. He frees up other people around him by doing a lot of the dirty work, and some of the flashy stuff with the assists.
“But what an opportunity now for the rest of the group to model his behaviour and kick on, and that’s what’s exciting.
“We’ve a lot of caps leaving the organisation, but what a great opportunity for the likes of Nanks [Alex Nankivell] and other great leaders within the group to push on now and drive the club forward.”
The retiring duo of O’Mahony and Archer, as well as the departing Murray, will likely be involved against Benetton this weekend too, while Costello said Munster are inspired to step up for a few other players too.
“Look, Killer [Dave Kilcoyne] is unfortunately retiring as well, Rory [Scannell] is on 199 caps, Craig Casey is at 99 caps, so there’s a lot of things and that’s what is important.
“Yeah, of course, league tables are important, how much the group care for each other, how connected they are and how we want to make these occasions special.
“This season, especially the last couple of weeks, hasn’t been where we’d like it to be after a really good run before that so now it’s about getting to the stage where we’re able to win those big games when we’re under pressure, that delivering under pressure is key and we if we do a job next week, we can look forward to the play-offs then.
“But we’ll give the boys hopefully a really good send-off in Cork next week.”
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Benetton Ian Costello Munster SUAF Ulster URC