THIS WEEKEND SEES rugby return to Croke Park, and for Munster head coach Graham Rowntree, the URC clash with Leinster will serve as his first visit to the home of the GAA.
For many of his players, the stadium was an important part of their upbringing. At their training centre in Limerick yesterday, the squad sat together and swapped stories of their memories of Croke Park as they prepare to tackle their biggest rivals in the ground this weekend, with over 75,000 tickets now sold for the fixture.
Rowntree was an interested observer as he players led the conversation, and admits the experience left a strong impression.
“I kind of knew the history. I keep my head down in these moments sometimes, for obvious reasons. It’s got a rich history, I knew what it was about and we spoke about it.
“Denis (Leamy) spoke very well, Denis has played there and the lads know the history of the place and the respect it demands, and it’s one of those occasions where if you’re playing there you’ve made it.
“I always found that with the Haka. I always get asked, what’s it like facing the Haka? It’s brilliant, because it means you’ve made it, you’re playing against the best. So when you get to play at a stadium like this you’ve got to take it in and not get overawed by it. You’ve still got to do your job. And these days the players have a lot of jobs to perform within a game.
“But we spoke about it and we’ll visit it on Friday. We won’t train there, probably, but we’ll have a good look around.”
While Leinster prepared for the game by welcoming a host of internationals back for Saturday’s win over Benetton, Munster have been counting the numbers at training as their injury list continues to grow, with Peter O’Mahony (hamstring) and Oli Jager (neck) both set to miss Saturday’s game after picking up injuries in the defeat of Ospreys.
While Tom Ahern, Alex Nankivell and Mike Haley are all in the mix to return this weekend, Munster’s early-season injury troubles have been staggering, with Thaakir Abrahams, Shane Daly, Billy Burns and Rudhán Quinn among the walking wounded.
Some of those injuries have undoubtedly been unfortunate – such as Daly landing awkwardly on his elbow against Zebre – but having dealt with a similarly testing injury list over the Christmas period last season, Rowntree says the province have looked into potential causes, including how they have been preparing the players.
That’s what we have people paid to do, panicking, looking at numbers. You can’t ignore the data. We’re not seeing a trend, there’s no correlation really, they’re all different, which is bloody annoying.
“I, we, plan training to the exact minute, who’s swapping in, how many kick-chases is Thaakir Abrahams doing this week, then it’s next one in for the next kick-chase or high speed running.
“We’ve got these racehorses and you’ve got to limit the mileage. There’s no correlation, we’ve had a good drill down into the data, even today we’ve modified a couple of bits around training and we’ll have to see if that’s the answer or not but there’s no excuse to over-train the lads. It’s not over-training.
“But you have got highly trained athletes… The size of them, they’re lean, there’s nothing on them. Sometimes they break down and honestly, you can panic, look under every stone but I trust the people here, I trust the data.”
Leinster have held the upper hand in this fixture over recent years, with Munster’s memorable URC semi-final win at Aviva Stadium in 2023 the outlier. That last-gasp victory stands as the province’s sole win against Leinster across the last seven meetings, with Leo Cullen’s side coming out on top twice last season – 21-16 in Dublin and 9-3 in Limerick.
Leinster have evolved since they last met on St Stephen’s Day, with Jacques Nienaber’s defensive system taking hold and Tyler Bleyendaal – who Rowntree briefly worked with during his early days with Munster – coming in as backs coach this season.
“Stephen’s Day in the rain last year, you could see the swarming, choking defence that Jacques had brought in.
“That’s continued. On some occasions to a lesser degree, if you look at the way they’re never off their feet. They’re back to their feet, challenging the ruck, their work-rate.
“I can see Tyler, his imprint, on some of their phase attack, some of their plays. They’re very good off launch. You don’t want to give them a load of lineouts, because they’re very good.
“It comes down to penalty access, they love mauls and breaking out of mauls. They’ve got great ways of challenging you around lineout, around that outside centre channel. So it’s going to be a hell of a challenge.”
A challenge Rowntree is confident his team can meet.
“If you’re not going to get yourself up for this at Croke Park, when are you? It’s still a thing, (the rivalry with) Leinster, let’s not hide away from that. They’re a class outfit, they’ve achieved a lot.
“Hell of a squad, their Irish international contingent compared to ours… it’s a big game to get up for. These are the games, I remember as a player, you live for. In such a venue as well. It’s got a rich history, I’m looking forward to seeing the place.
“It’s a game to test ourselves, get ourselves there and get our game on the field, play at the pace we want to play; contain their pace, their threats. It’ll be a hell of a battle.”
