MUNSTER DIRECTOR OF rugby Rassie Erasmus already has his eye on next week’s derby against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium and he admits he likes what he has seen from Leo Cullen’s ‘impressive’ side.
After Leinster blitzed past Ospreys on Friday night, Erasmus’s side had an equally comfortable win over Edinburgh on their own patch – his first win at Thomond Park.
Both teams are now locked on 14 points each after four games, with just Leinster’s superior try scoring rate placing them above the red province.
They both have another round of fixtures to navigate this weekend before they face off at the national stadium, but Erasmus is hopeful of having his best players back in the fold for that crunch game.
“(Leinster) pose challenges, they have great players. They seem to click really quickly. But again in that game also, the opposition also came back.
“The toughest thing for me is, like Earlsie (Keith Earls) playing his first game now, trying to manage him and the players around him get injured and you have to push a guy like that. It was nice to manage Tyler Bleyendaal and Conor Murray today.
Leinster, last night, also had guys coming back. You lose a little bit of momentum with those guys being match fit, but surely they look impressive.
After having rich pickings in the back row last weekend, Munster now face somewhat of a dilemma in that area, which could result in a return to action for Peter O’Mahony after a year on the sidelines.
Tommy O’Donnell (concussion), Donnacha Ryan (illness), Dave O’Callaghan (shoulder), Jack O’Donoghue (neck) and Conor Oliver (ankle) are all concerns, although there is positive news about Robin Copeland who impressed again for Young Munster at the weekend.
Munster’s leading tackler, Billy Holland, is one player that is likely to feature in the back row after another impressive display against Edinburgh, and he says he is also impressed by Leinster.
“They were excellent. They played some really good rugby against a good Ospreys side. An Ospreys side who have started the season really well,” said Holland.
We have Zebre next week and Leinster the week after so we have a lot of work to do to get up to Leinster’s standard. I was very impressed with them.
“They were very clinical and very accurate. We lacked accuracy at times tonight. We have a lot of work to do in the next month.”
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