Penney Eyes ‘Amazing Achievement’

Munster face Scarlets on Saturday looking for the victory that would complete a clean sweep over the Welsh regions this season in the PRO12 – a feat that has never been accomplished by any side before.

Rob Penney’s men secured their seventh win of the season over a Welsh side in last week’s 25-11 win away to Ospreys and another win in Wales this weekend would complete the set.

“It would be an amazing achievement,” said Penney. “But it will all come down to how the boys prepare and with the short turnaround and two away trips, it’s a difficult week for us.”

British and Irish Lion Jonathan Davies returns to the Scarlets side after an injury lay-off and with 23-cap England international Olly Barkley recently added to the squad, Penney is well aware of Scarlets' dangerous backline and powerful forward unit:

“Olly [Barkley] brings a wealth of experience to their inside backs combination, he’s a very talented player but they’re a good side there’s no doubt about that and they’ll be difficult over there.

“They [the Scarlets forwards] are lively and they’re very aggressive, it’s something that we need to be really cognisant of and try to combat that because it’s a big part of their game and they have destroyed a few packs.”

Donnacha Ryan played the full 80 last weekend for the first time since his return from injury and the lock forward, who also trained with the Irish squad last week, is keen for more game-time against a Scarlets side he rates highly.

Ryan said: “I’m extremely fresh so it’s great to be back playing and I’m mad to play every minute. I was very happy to get out on the field and get a full game under my belt [against Ospreys] and I got around 70 minutes the week before so I’m very happy with how things are going.

“Every week there’s big pressure on us because we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Scarlets are a very tough side especially over there, we lost there last year – it was a tough loss for us to take.

“They haven’t got many internationals away so they’re going to be pretty strong. The threat is not to get carried away with ourselves. We had a good win last weekend but certainly we made a lot of mistakes that we would like to improve on.

“We have to be prepared this weekend, there’s four points up for grabs and Scarlets playing at home are obviously going to be up for it so we have to be up for it as well,” added Ryan.

When the sides met earlier in the season it took a late, late Ronan O’Mahony try to seal a 16-10 win in Cork over Simon Easterby's Scarlets and scrum-half Duncan Williams is expecting another tight encounter.

“They have a good squad, it took us to three or four minutes into extra-time in Musgrave Park to beat them so I’m expecting another tough battle over there and it should be an interesting game.

“They’re a big, physical side and they like going through on the scrum-half but we have a big side as well so it should be a good game.”

Munster face Scarlets at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday at 6:30pm. The game will be televised live on RTE and S4C with live updates here.

Munster are back in action at Thomond Park next month with more details here.