In Pics: Ospreys Preparations

2nd November 2016 By Munster Rugby

See our training shots as Munster train under clear blue skies at UL in preparation for Friday’s Guinness PRO12 encounter against Ospreys. Plus we catch up with Duncan Williams who made his 100th PRO12 appearance in the win over Ulster.

Click here to view our training gallery.

Williams’ 100th PRO12 appearance is one that will live long in the memory for the Cork man as Munster overcame a 14 point deficit to record their second win in a row in the Kingspan Stadium. It may not have been the prettiest of wins, but such contested battles rarely are and Munster have now gone three games undefeated in Belfast (drawing in 2014/15) for the first time since the Second World War.

With a lot of hard work seeing little return on the scoreboard early on, Williams was glad his side eventually found their clinical edge as the game approached the midway point.

“It’s one of the toughest grounds to go to but despite being two tries down we stuck at it and were hammering their line for a good while and left a few scores behind us. We showed our consistency at getting into the 22, we made them work hard and we eventually got over in the corner and that gave us a lot of confidence heading into half time.

“There was a period of over four minutes where we defended phase after phase and when you hold a team out like that it gives you great confidence and helps you to kick on.

“We knew our defence and fitness were pretty good so we backed them all the way. Heading into the last 20 minutes we felt we were coming good and when Paddy Jackson missed a penalty it gave us added impetus to go down the field and get that dropgoal. It was good to get the win and fair play to Rory (Scannell) for knocking it over.”

The challenge in the scrum half’s 101st Championship appearance won’t get any easier when Munster host second-placed Ospreys at Irish Independent Park this Friday. It’s three wins apiece from the sides’ last six encounters while last time out the Welshmen ended Munster’s winning streak of twelve games on Leeside.

“It was disappointing from our perspective that they ended our unbeaten record and we’ll look to put that right this weekend. There is a real tight atmosphere in Cork with the supporters really close to the pitch and we really enjoy playing there.”

Munster v Ospreys, Guinness PRO12 round 8, Friday November 4^th at Irish Independent Park, ko 7.35pm.