MUNSTER COACH ROB Penney will take charge of his third meeting with Leinster this Saturday night still in search of a win.
Last season’s clashes yielded just the one losing bonus as Brian O’Driscoll provided the difference in both Dublin and Limerick.
From the very start of this season, however, there has been an extra sense of Munster optimism around this fixture. Not only because the southern province are healthy and confident, but because they are at home.
Last season, Leinster went to Thomond Park to win eight days after their 76-point Amlin Challenge Cup shout-out against Wasps. Munster were six days after the hardest fought of wins against Harlequins.
Not since 2007 have Leinster had to travel south for this fixture early on in the season – although they did win on that day. Everything, right down to Niall O’Donovan’s successful lobbying for back-to-back games in Italy, has been timed to help Munster peak in the coming three weeks.
“Having Leinster at home is a great let-in for us and it will be a titanic battle,” Penney said yesterday.“Leinster are on the up and look like they’ve got their ship back on track. They are looking to really power on now. It will be a big challenge for us.”
Mixed metaphors aside, Penney has doubtless watched through Leinster’s bonus-point win over Cardiff with great interest.
The Amlin and Pro12 champions welcomed back their Lions and Ian Madigan to pick the poor Blues apart. Munster, meanwhile, had appeared to ease off the pedal; focusing on defence and rather than the attack which was so impressive in their 10-out-of-10 opening two fixtures.
“I was really impressed with the way Leinster went about it. I thought they played a terrific brand of rugby and they are going to be hard to combat,”Penney added.
“We were easy-oasy. We didn’t really function as well as we would have liked. But after the loss to Benetton (Treviso) it was good to get back on track and get the points, but we’ve got a lot of improving to do.”
“One of the learnings for me last year was the intensity and ferocity of the local derby matches. They are fantastic. I’m sure both sides would be coming to that game, desperately keen to do well, heading into the Heineken but also crucial Rabo points up for grabs.”
The factor, of course, which sets this fixture aside from all other Pro12 encounters is that – unlike say, Dragons at home or Cardiff away – there is never any danger of motivation being anywhere lower than the roof. Any complacency Munster may have been ready to bring along to Edinburgh will be knocked out of them no matter what result is earned this Saturday.
“The derby takes care of itself,” says Penney. “It is quite a separate entity in terms of the competition.
“The Irish playing Irish is wonderful and it is tough and very intense. Probably [good] for us to use this as part of our prep, but it certainly is a stand-alone fixture.”
In every sense.
