MUNSTER BOSS GRAHAM Rowntree said his men will accept the challenge of travelling in the Champions Cup round of 16, having been drawn away to the Sharks in South Africa.
It will be a demanding task, particularly given that Munster will have to return to South Africa two weeks later for a two-hame URC tour, but Rowntree believes his team are moving in the right direction as they head into the business end of the season.
“It’s a challenge, we like a challenge at this club at the moment,” said Rowntree in Toulouse this evening.
“If you’re going to win this competition, you’ve got to go places and win games like this.
“What we are proving is that we’ve got form on the road, so I’m already looking forward to it.”
Munster host Glasgow in the URC the weekend before they visit the Sharks, with Rowntree confirming that they’re likely to travel to South Africa midweek before the Champions Cup clash.
The Irish province will then have to return to South Africa two weeks later to take on the Stormers and the Sharks in the URC, meaning it will be a tough period in terms of logistics.
“We’ve Glasgow on the 25th [of March], we’d probably look to get to Durban on the Tuesday or Wednesday,” said Rowntree. “In and out, smash and grab.
“We’re going to be seeing a lot of them.”
Rowntree took pride in his players’ performance in Munster’s 20-16 defeat to Toulouse at the Stade Ernest-Wallon this evening, a loss which meant they finished sixth in Pool B and have to go on the road in the first knock-out round.
Munster recovered from a poor start in France to lead twice in the second half but weren’t able to edge to victory as replacement out-half Ben Healy was sin-binned in the closing stages and Toulouse finished on top.
But Rowntree was heartened by his men’s display in front of a vocal Toulouse crowd. Now, he wants to see Munster travelling to take on the Sharks with some confidence.
“To me, that’s what makes a class team – what you do on the road, winning away from home. We’ve had a couple of good moments there recently. Edinburgh, Ulster, today would have been a nice feather in the cap but wherever we go, we’ll be well prepped.”
Rowntree said he was “gutted” with the outcome in Toulouse as he stressed that his side could have won the game, but he went on to point to some of Munster’s good work.
“We did some good things,” said Rowntree. “Not many teams come here and do what we did, recover from an early setback and find a way to stay in the game. We did some good things around our set-piece, stopping their power game.
“We’ll have at look some things we can do better, particularly with Ben Healy in the bin in that last 10 minutes there, in terms of relieving pressure. Some of the stuff we were being a bit ambitious where we were playing on the field but we’ll look at that. It’s part of our learning but our game’s growing.”
Rowntree’s men haven’t been flawless over recent months but he is pleased that teams are finding it difficult to put them away even when they do lose.
“We lost by five points to these [Toulouse] last time, lost by a point Stephen’s Day [against Leinster], we lost by four points tonight,” he said. “We’re tough to beat. That’s the bedrock of what I want us to be in terms of our DNA.
“I’m really pleased with how we’re going. But then you come here and we could have won that. So gutted.”
Whatever about the Champions Cup challenge ahead against the Sharks, Munster must not refocus on the URC as they face a crucial visit to Benetton next weekend.
Rowntree will be without his Ireland internationals as they go into Six Nations camp but he confirmed that Ben Healy will be available to feature following a three-day training stint with Scotland. Fullback Mike Haley suffered an ankle injury in Toulouse and could be absent for that visit to Italy next weekend.
Get instant updates on your province on The42 app. With Laya Healthcare, official health and wellbeing partner to Leinster, Munster and Connacht Rugby.
