In their hour of need their public have rallied to the cause. Munster’s all-or-nothing shoot-out on the 18th and final weekend of the URC regular season against Benetton in Virgin Media Park next Friday (kick-off 8pm) is an 8,000 sell-out.
To all intents and purposes, this is effectively a playoff to reach the playoffs and with it next season’s Champions Cup. This glorified knockout tie, which will also mark the final game on Irish soil of the Cork duo of Peter O’Mahony and Stephen Archer as well as Conor Murray, is the kind of cup rugby on which Munster players such as that trio were reared.
They and the rest of the match day squad all came through last Friday’s vital 38-20 win over Ulster in front of a 17,000-plus attendance at Thomond Park unscathed. Hence, with Diarmuid Barron (shoulder injury) and Oli Jager (head injury) again unavailable, although Edwin Edogbo is thankfully back in training after his lengthy absence, Munster are likely to be unchanged for this season-defining game.
“There will be that little bit of emotion” around the aforementioned trio’s Cork farewell, admitted the Munster defence coach Denis Leamy. “That will be there but we’ve a big job of work to do. We’re playing a very good team and it’s fair to say it’s a cup final, or a cup game.”
Hailing Munster’s supporters last Friday and looking ahead to this Friday’s sell-out, Leamy said: “It’s just a great chance to bring people together and we value our support so much. Cork will be exceptional – the Cork sports people, as a county, the best in Ireland. Musgrave will be rocking. It will feel like 16,000, it will feel unbelievable and I know that the Cork supporters will give us everything on Friday night.”
Munster sit eighth, behind Benetton by dint of the latter having won one more match. On what could be a dramatic as well as emotional night, Munster should know their fate at the full-time whistle, as the two teams immediately below them also play on Friday evening, with Cardiff away to the Stormers at 6pm Irish time, and Edinburgh hosting Ulster at 7.35pm.
“That’s something we’ll keep an eye on,” said Leamy, “around permutations and decisions that we may need to take on the field.”
But Munster know that a win of any hue will guarantee a top-eight finish, whereas a defeat will probably see them miss out on the playoffs and next season’s Champions Cup for the first time since the competition came into being 30 years ago.
“It’s very clear cut – you win the game and that probably takes care of the vast majority of what we need to, so that will be the thing,” said Leamy. “Just try and go out and, as difficult as it will be, put in place a performance that can win the game.”
Only three times this season have Munster backed up a win with another but Leamy takes comfort in how his team found the means to subdue Ulster after a difficult start.
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“The boys fully understand it’s about growing week-to-week and we did an awful lot right against Ulster. We didn’t get an easy start but we stayed calm and managed to get up the field and score tries and we put in a good D set to deny Ulster opportunities.
“Our set-piece delivered at crucial times as well, which gave us platforms to attack off. All those little pieces are important and it’s about building on that again in that little bit of a pressure zone that Cork and Musgrave Park is going to be on Friday night.
“We fully believe in our players and we’ve got players who have played at the very highest level and have won a URC only a couple of seasons before. These boys have been in tough places and we back them all the way.”
Leamy is struck by the number of internationals in Benetton’s ranks, referencing outhalf Jacob Umaga, the renowned midfield pairing of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello, and winger Paolo Odogwu, and also took note of their 33-7 bonus point win over the champions Glasgow last Saturday, having earlier taken the scalps of Bath and La Rochelle in the Champions Cup.
“You see what they’re capable of doing, it definitely puts you on high alert. We’ve spoken about that a lot today, but we’ve just got to back ourselves, back our game, understand the people that we have in the building and believe in that.”
