No Danger of Complacency in the Munster Camp

Following their 64 point win over Viadana last time out the public perception might be that it’s just a case of Munster turning up on Saturday. But that’s not the way the Munster coach sees it.

Following their 64 point win over Viadana last time out the public perception might be that it s just a case of Munster turning up on Saturday.

But that s not the way Munster coach sees it. the fact that they are playing at home makes them a totally different proposition. I m sure they will feel they can make major improvements and it must also be remembered that they scored five tries against Gloucester on their home ground. So we ll be aware of that. We ve also noted the score from Calvisano last week when they beat Neath, and there was also discussion among our boys about the match the turnaround a few seasons back where Toulouse, after putting over 100 points on Ebbw vale, lost the return. So no, I don t think there s the slightest danger of complacency among our boys.

And just as before the game last week Gaffney refused to talk about the try-count. Look we have set a target of winning the game. That s what we must focus on. We spoke of control and patience, and building the phases before the last game and that s what we must do again on Saturday and hope things happen for us. The other game taking place on Saturday is the Perpignan v Gloucester clash in the south west of France and one that Gaffney has more than a passing interest in. Of course we await that result with a great degree of interest. Thinking about the best scenario from a Munster point of view there are two ways of looking at it. We could hope for a Gloucester win that would end Perpignan s interest and maybe hope that when we go there in January their interest in the competition would have waned. Or would it be better if Perpignan won. That would mean we d be playing Gloucester for outside leadership of the Pool in Thomond Park in January assuming of course that we won in Perpignan the previous week. You could spend hours pondering what s best. Our aim is to win all our remaining games. We won t be looking around to see how others are doing; we ll concentrate on what we have to do.

The only change to the Munster side sees John Kelly return to the right wing having recovered from an in jury sustained in the international against Australia and the decision to omit Lawlor was a difficult one. Mossie has done extremely well for us and yes it was a very tough call and hard on Mossie. He s scored six tries in seven games in the Celtic League and I know he has a very big future in front of him. But he s losing out to an international and that can t be bad. John was the man in possession and we have also to look beyond the Munster picture and think what s best from the national squad point of view. John needs game time so all taking all those things into consideration we ve opted to go with him.

Munster fly out on Friday morning, will be based in Parma and return home on Saturday night.