Munster back their bench to power past Glasgow
THE DREAM FINAL is tantalisingly close to becoming a reality for Munster. Beat Glasgow Warriors today and Graham Rowntree’s men will be back at Thomond Park next weekend defending their URC title on home soil.
It’s a hugely exciting prospect for the province’s players and supporters but they’ll need a big 80 minutes to keep the dream alive as Glasgow come to town for today’s semi-final meeting in Limerick [KO 6pm, TG4/Premier Sports].
This has become one of the most gripping cross-border rivalries in the URC and today’s installment looks set to be another niggly affair. There’s been an edge between these two teams for some time now and the knock-out element should only serve to sharpen the needle.
On paper, it’s a game Munster should win. Even allowing for some notable injuries they have a strong matchday squad, they topped the URC table and go into the game bouncing from an impressive run of form – winning their last 10 URC fixtures, representing their best league run since 2011.
Rowntree has made four changes from last Friday’s quarter-final defeat of the Ospreys, with Mike Haley, Alex Nankivell, Fineen Wycherley and Jack O’Donoghue all returning to the starting XV.
The return of Nankivell from an ankle injury is significant, and alongside Antoine Frisch the 27-year-old should bring a skillful, aggressive edge to the midfield battle against Scotland internationals Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu.
Yet that positive development was tempered by the loss of Calvin Nash to a leg injury. With the Ireland international out, the in-form Simon Zebo is shifted from fullback to the wing, where he is arguably less effective.
RG Snyman starts on the bench.
The return of Wycherley and Jack O’Donoghue to the Munster pack sees RG Snyman and Gavin Coombes take their place as part of a 6/2 bench split which has proved so effective over the last two months.
While the absence of injured pair Tom Ahern and Joey Carbery robs the province of some dynamism off the bench, the likes of Snyman, Coombes, Diarmuid Barron and Oli Jager will pack plenty of punch when introduced – with Rowntree recently tending to turn to his bench early in the second half.
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Munster are understandably wary of the threat this Glasgow team pose. The Scottish side inflicted an alarming 38-26 defeat on Munster in their last visit to Thomond (March 2023), a result which led to the province rewiring their defensive system.
They come to Limerick today armed with a spread of internationals and a fearsome set-piece – scoring five maul tries in defeat to Munster in Cork earlier this season.
Munster have been playing close attention to their maul defence since that game and it could prove a decisive battle today.
“We’ll be tested everywhere,” says Rowntree.
“Set-piece, their attack, they don’t kick the ball much. The depth on the edge of the field there is impressive. They’ve got a good defensive breakdown. I think what Franco Smith’s done there has been very impressive.”
Simon Zebo moves to the wing with Mike Haley at fullback.
Yet Munster can take confidence from how they’ve made a habit of winning even while not hitting top stride. Indeed, Leinster are the only team to win at Thomond this season in the URC.
While last year the province summoned a late surge to win an unlikely URC title, this time they’ve negotiated their way to the final four with less stress. Rowntree points to their gritty quarter-final win away to Glasgow last season as a key moment in his team’s development.
“It was different last year,” says Rowntree.
“On April 22nd, we limped into the play-off and European qualification. But we did it by beating Stormers away and we could have beaten Sharks on a humid night, we had a disallowed try in the last minute. A month before that, we were beaten well here by Glasgow.
“And then we went to South Africa and we found ourselves. Battle-hardened, and we got to a quarter-final. And because of what we had done in South Africa, we can go anywhere with a bit of respect, and we went to Glasgow and we just defended exceptionally well for 20 minutes.
“I think we defended four mauls, they’d a red card towards the end of the half which helped. But we were on it that night, we were hardened, we were travelling. But we’d just limped into the play-offs, it was a different dynamic.
We finished top of the pile this year. They stuck in a game on Saturday against the Stormers and now they’re travelling with a hardened group and a bit of belief.
“We’re the receiving team. We’re on a 10-game bounce. We’ve won games in different conditions.
“Edinburgh, everything was being thrown at us at one point. Still got a bonus-point. A good work-out against Richie’s (Murphy’s) Ulster team and then you saw what happened last week.
“So we’re battling through a lot of adversity. And we’re still growing. We’ve not been perfect. We get to a point where we’re at home and they’re coming to us. It will be a hell of a game. That’s the difference between this and last year.
“We limped into Europe on April 22nd and won it on May 27th. A whirlwind. This is different, game by game, quarter-final, take your points, and a semi-final against a gnarly Glasgow team coming here.”
MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell, Simon Zebo; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Peter O’Mahony, John Hodnett, Jack O’Donoghue.
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan, Oli Jager, RG Snyman, Gavin Coombes, Conor Murray, Sean O’Brien, Alex Kendellen.
GLASGOW: Josh McKay; Sebastian Cancelliere, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Kyle Steyn (capt); Tom Jordan, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, Johnny Matthews, Zander Fagerson; Scott Cummings, Richie Gray; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: George Turner, Oli Kebble, Murphy Walker, Max Williamson, Euan Ferrie, Henco Venter, Jamie Dobie, Ross Thompson.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)