All Eyes On Saracens

Pre-match stats and the thoughts of Munster captain Peter O’Mahony as the countdown to Saracens v Munster in round 5 of the European Champions Cup continues.

Munster travel to Allianz Park this Saturday bidding to become only the second visiting side (and the first in the Champions Cup) to claim victory at the London venue this season.

Saracens will look to avenge their only loss in Pool 1 so far – at Thomond Park in October – and boast a number of impressive stats that highlight the difficulty of the task at hand for the Munstermen this weekend.

To date in the competition Saracens have allowed the fewest clean breaks (14) and have conceded the fewest turnovers as well as having the tournament’s top tacker in hooker Jamie George – missed just two of his 60 attempted tackles.

Despite not winning in Limerick in round 2 it was the Englishmen who made the most metres – 275 versus 231 – with number 8 Billy Vunipola proving a thorn in each of their Pool 1 opponents' sides so far this season.

When looking at Champions Cup performers across both teams, Vunipola has scored the most tries, won the most turnovers, made the most offloads and beaten the most defenders.

Peter O’Mahony discusses the importance of this weekend and coping with the pressures of such a pivotal game.

“I’d say a lot of fellas react differently. I’d say we’d probably be a little bit more difficult to live with. Crankier is a way to put it, but it’s a good sign I suppose. Pressure’s a good thing, especially putting it on yourself. It’s important. A fear factor, and all these things, come into play. It’s a cup final game for us. We lose and we’re out. You can compare it to any of the knockouts. It’s international level. It’s win or bust.”

The captain’s thoughts on playing on a 4G pitch in London.

“I’ve never played on one to be honest so I can’t really comment. I’ve only trained on one. The boys speak very highly of the one in Cardiff. It’s a factor we can’t control.

“We’ve trained on the pitch down below (UL) a couple of times but I think it will probably be a little bit quicker, obviously the weather doesn’t affect it so from a forwards point of view not much is going to change.”

And how will the province approach the game this weekend?

“I don’t think we’ll be going very far from where we were. It’s cup rugby and we’re not going changing the wheel for this week. We have to be better than we were over the last few weeks. There are small things which are still relevant from that night (v Saracens at Thomond Park). But we have more focus on their last few games reviewing them.”

Saracens v Munster, European Champions Cup Round 5, Saturday January 17th at Allianz Park, London – KO 1pm.