Munster have adopted a “heal thyselves” philosophy rather than dwelling unduly on the well documented, and acknowledged, officiating fiasco in their 16-13 URC defeat to the Bulls last weekend.
A primary area of focus is the lineout issues that have scuppered their ambitions to a ruinous degree in the last two matches, their defeat to Bordeaux-Begles in the Champions Cup quarter-final and the Bulls game at Thomond Park.
Alex Codling’s secondment to Munster earlier in the season had a very positive effect, but given that his primary role is with the Ireland women’s team during the Six Nations Championship, there has to be a little bit of a remote element – reviewing game footage – to his work in trying to repair and reboot a malfunctioning set-piece.
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Rather than focusing on the problem Munster assistant coach Mossy Lawler is confident that a solution can be found ahead of their next game, against Cardiff at the Arms Park on Friday night.
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He said: “It’s not been an excuse. If you look at the Bordeaux team we played, and certainly the Bulls too, Bordeaux are one of the best defensive lineout teams in Europe, and if you make any inaccuracies there in your detail they are going to pick you off.
“It’s not ideal ever having any kind of coach away. But Alex (Codling) is in constant contact with Tommy (O’Donnell) and his shot callers so from that point of view there has been no stone left unturned. And there is a hell of a lot of experience in this group, so I have no doubt we will get it right this weekend.”
Lawler made an interesting observation about how Munster need to stick closer to their playing DNA, trust it, and that if they were able to do so in the match environment that they possessed the players and patterns to be successful.
“Before I joined (from Connacht in the summer of 2023) this group won a URC playing with ambition and that has been our mantra. We are a possession-based team, and we want to hold on to the ball and go after teams.
“Obviously the last couple of weeks we haven’t been as accurate as we have wanted to be, but we certainly won’t be tightening up. We have a hell of a lot of experience in the room who have played in massive games, bigger than what we will face in the next couple of weeks. So they will be leading the charge into being who we are and sticking to who we are.”
Gavin Coombes, a consistently brilliant and integral performer for the province this season, missed the Bulls game with an ankle injury sustained in Bordeaux, but his presence at the media conference suggests that he will be back to drive Munster’s push for the playoffs in Cardiff.
He’s upbeat in his views. “We’ve beaten a very good La Rochelle team in Europe and Bordeaux, we saw glimpses of where we put them to the sword, so I think to say we’re a long way off it is completely wrong.
“I believe in this group, and we have been off it on a few occasions during the season and a few games, but when we’ve been on it we’ve had some great days and some great performances. There’s a lot of belief in this group that we have the talent to challenge for the league, and that’s definitely what we’re speaking about.
“We’ve reviewed it (the Bulls game) and probably small things that we didn’t get right so that’s frustrating for us, but I don’t think you can fault the effort that we had on the pitch. Defensively we were defending on our own line quite a lot in that first half and putting in big shots, turning those over.
“I think everyone realises this is a huge week so it’s not one where we can come in (on Monday) and feel sorry for ourselves and waste a day. We’ve got a six-day turnaround, we’re playing Friday evening, we need everyone on it.
“Everyone had it parked by the time we came in, we had a quick review and spoke about what we can work on, you know, small moments where the game got away from us.”
Munster had a day off on Tuesday and returned to the training pitch on Wednesday. Every match now is like a cup final, and as they have demonstrated in the past that’s when the province is at its most focused and dangerous.
