In Pics: Preparing For Warriors
17th February 2016 By Munster Rugby
With just a five day turnaround, Head Coach Anthony Foley held his final squad session of the week at UL today before naming his side to face Glasgow Warriors at midday tomorrow. Take a behind-the-scenes look with our latest training shots and get the pre-match thoughts of Assistant Coach Ian Costello.
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A break in 6 Nations action this weekend saw international representatives Tommy O’Donnell, James Cronin and Donnacha Ryan train with the squad in Limerick today with Assistant Coach Ian Costello welcoming their return to the provincial fold.
“It’s great to have them back training with us as they bring a lot of experience and energy. They are quality players and to have them with us this week has definitely added another dimension to the group, especially with such a short turnaround – it really freshens us up.”
Munster make the journey to Scotland this Friday off the back off a disappointing defeat to 7th placed Ospreys at Irish Independent Park on Sunday – their first defeat in Cork in 13 games.
“It was a really frustrating defeat because we did a lot of things really well and we got ourselves into a really good position. At 17-10 up I thought we would push on – we put them under a lot of pressure in attack and scored two tries off the back of our defence, but then we let them back in with a couple of soft penalties and our accuracy dropped off with ball in hand.
“That was a game that we should have won and it was disappointing to lose to a team who are just one place below you on the league table.
“We have some hurt from the Ospreys game and we channelled that in training yesterday. We then had a tough review and trained really well again today. That sets us up nicely for Friday and our focus is firmly on that.”
With recent adverse weather conditions also wreaking havoc with playing surfaces in Scotland and due to the high risk of an unplayable pitch at Scotstoun, the Round 15 fixture has been moved to the 4G surface at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock.
“We have a 4G pitch in UL which we have trained on and with the weather conditions we’ve had over the last while, by default, we’ve ended up doing a lot of sessions on the 4G.
“The reality is it’s a quick pitch and the ball stays in play a long time – it doesn’t bounce as much and that is something Glasgow will be really excited about. They love to keep the ball alive and offload – they have a huge continuity game and can change the point of attack really well.
“For us it will be a challenge to face a team with that attacking threat again. Ospreys were similar and we felt we underachieved last weekend. This gives us a chance immediately to rectify that.
“Plus, there’s no greater challenge than playing the champions on a fast surface.”
Glasgow Warriors v Munster, Guinness PRO12 Round 15, Friday February 19th at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock – KO 7:35pm.
This game will be televised on Sky Sports 5.
