DESPITE THE ASTONISHING gap of 21 points that separates them in the United Rugby Championship standings, Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster acknowledged it will be a rejuvenated Munster that awaits them in Thomond Park on St Stephen’s Day.
When the two sides met in the URC at the Aviva Stadium on October 22, Munster developed a 13-7 lead in the early stages of the second half before their arch rivals responded with 20 unanswered points to ultimately see the game out in ruthless style. The Reds followed up this defeat with a narrow reversal to Ulster a week later, but morale was significantly boosted as a consequence of their victory against South Africa ‘A’ in an historic clash at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on November 10.
Back-to-back league wins followed at the expense of Connacht and Edinburgh and while the southern province had to make do with a losing bonus point against Toulouse in their first game of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup, last Sunday’s 17-6 triumph over Northampton Saints has them in the reckoning for a European knockout spot.
“I think their results have obviously improved. They had a very good win up in Edinburgh having fallen behind. The South Africa game seemed to be a catalyst for them with their results. It was a very good win over Northampton. I know how much Northampton wanted to win that game,” Lancaster remarked at a Leinster media briefing in UCD yesterday.
“They’ve still got the resilience and defensive toughness and set-piece organisation you see every year, but now they’ve got more detail in terms of their attacking shape. They’re working harder off the ball and you can generally see what they’re trying to do in attack. It’s a completely different style to 18 months ago isn’t it?
You could [previously] pretty much guarantee that the box kick would come first as an exit policy. Now it’s a box kick, but it could easily be a mindset to run as well so there has definitely been an evolution. That’s the type of thing we have talked about in the preview because it would be pretty naïve to think that they are not confident now — because they should be.
The Racing 92-bound Lancaster is extremely familiar with Munster supremo Graham Rowntree following the four years they spent together in the England national set-up as head coach and forwards coach respectively.
Eddie Jones was Lancaster’s eventual successor in the English hotseat, but an underwhelming run of results saw the Australian being relieved of his duties in recent weeks. Steve Borthwick has been tasked with steadying the ship ahead of next year’s Six Nations and World Cup campaigns, with Lancaster insisting the former lock is capable of making an immediate impact.
“I am delighted he has got the job because he is an English coach and he has come through the system, a bit like myself in that I got the interim job at a very similar time. It was December 2011 so it was a very short run into the Six Nations and we made wholesale changes to the squad and won four games out of five,” Lancaster added.
“It is more than achievable to do well with the squad he has. He will really benefit from his time with England [as assistant coach to Jones]. I wasn’t involved with the previous coach. I was the Saxons coach and I had been to the World Cup in 2011 when I shadowed Martin Johnson’s team so I had my own ideas on how to run the camp and what I would like to do in terms of the game plan.
“So Steve will really benefit from that. He knows the environment, he knows the players and he knows English rugby and he has proven at Leicester Tigers that he can transform a team from near the bottom of the table into one that can win the title.
“I don’t think it’s as worrying as people make out that he is taking it on at this point. He has this run-in to the World Cup and the tournament itself and the four years after that. So it’s a five-year contract and I’m sure he’ll put his best foot forward.”
Get instant updates on your province on The42 app. With Laya Healthcare, official health and wellbeing partner to Leinster, Munster and Connacht Rugby.