Munster are hopeful they can avoid the kind of injury profile that blighted their season last year. The only team to win away from home in round one of the United Rugby Championship (URC) last week against Scarlets, the early signs are positive that the tough preseason work under Clayton McMillan can bring greater dividends.
“Look, something had to change with our injury profiles last year,” admitted Munster skills coach Mossy Lawler. “I mean you can’t run a ship when you have consistently 15 to 20 players out, so I’m not going to go into that too far.
“I’ll focus on preseason, which was to make sure we have a healthy shape, a healthy deck that we can put our best foot forward and I do believe that if we have our full team to select from, we will be a powerful source this year.”
Players have commented that the preseason was the hardest they have ever done. Last October in the run-in to Munster’s URC game against Leinster in Croke Park, the then coach, Graham Rowntree, bemoaned how his side had been hollowed out by injury.
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Key players, including captain Peter O’Mahony (hamstring) and prop Oli Jager (neck), were ruled out, along with several other senior squad members, leaving Munster significantly weakened. Approximately 15 players in all were unavailable for the high-profile encounter.
The backline, in particular, was stretched, with Shane Daly, Thaakir Abrahams, Patrick Campbell and Diarmuid Kilgallen all sidelined.
“Obviously, it had been an aspect that we wanted to get fitter and stronger and I think we achieved that,” says Lawler.
“You could even see it in our players’ stature at the weekend. From the start of the game, we were physical on both sides of the ball.
“I know from yourselves speaking to Clayton how we went about the preseason and the emphasis the players had put on their gym work, and their fitness conditioning in the afternoons as well as on top of their rugby.
“I just heard Shane Daly saying there it was the hardest preseason he’s ever done. From that point of view, it will stand to us. We’ve got a healthy ship at the moment so very, very hopeful looking forward.”
As Munster look towards the second round and a game against Cardiff at Thomond Park on Saturday night (7.45pm), Lawler’s role with the team has also been tweaked.
Last season the former Munster back was a skills coach with the responsibility of making sure coaches Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy got what they wanted from both sides of the ball.
This year his role has expanded, and he has taken over exits, the kicking game and scrum strikes from an attack point of view. For an ambitious coach like Lawler, it is something of a next step under McMillan.
“Thankfully Clayton came in and saw something in me from listening to people that I work with on a daily basis. And in fairness he just gave me that promotion to step up into a bigger remit,” says Lawler.
“I am just glad I got it and embraced it and am making sure I am doing a good job for the new man.”
Despite the bonus-point win on the road against the Scarlets, Munster into go into Saturday night wary of a Cardiff team that beat them in Wales in April.
With the financial gloom currently hanging over Welsh rugby, Lawler also sees an additional imperative from the Welsh players to fight hard to stay in the game for more than URC points.
Towards the end of the 2024 season Cardiff announced a £2.1 million (€2.4 million) loss, the Ospreys more than £2 million (€2.29 million) and the Scarlets almost £3 million (€3.43 million). At the same time, the Scarlets saw turnover fall from over £13 million (€15.23 million) to £12.9 million (€14.77 million).
“It is not just the club, it is individuals with their livelihoods as well, so when you are fighting for a bigger cause like that you are always going to be a dangerous team,” says Lawler.
“We faced it last week against the Scarlets as well, but we named it early in the week and we understood what threat that brings, so we are under no illusions about how tough this weekend is going to be.”
