COACHES AND PLAYERS like to say they are ‘next-game focused’, but this week that might feel a little harder than usual at Munster.

The province are back in United Rugby Championship action this weekend when they host the Dragons on Saturday, but it would only be natural if thoughts were already drifting ahead to their next block of fixtures, with Munster due to fly out to South Africa on Sunday.

Munster’s last trip to the country in November quickly descended into chaos, as changing covid circumstances saw their scheduled games against the Bulls and Lions postponed while a number of their travelling party ended up being stuck in South Africa after testing positive for the virus.

This time they are hoping for a much smoother experience, with the province set to play the Bulls on 12 March at the Loftus Versfeld before taking on the Lions in Johannesburg on 19 March. 

While a provisional plan is already in place, Munster will finalise their squad for the trip following the Dragons game, and forwards coach Graham Rowntree – who is awaiting news Johann van Graan’s successor as head coach – says the group are excited to finally get back to South Africa.

“I’ve no doubt that at home they’ll be good against us. They’ll be waiting for us,” Rowntree says.

There will be some great places for our guys to go and challenge themselves, playing rugby against some top teams in some top stadiums in a great country. It’s a country I’ve been to more than any other country on the planet. It’s a great rugby country.

“All the protocols are sorted and we are happy with them. If I get Covid again, I’ll have another crate of wine in my hotel suite in Cape Town which got me through my isolation. No, we’re happy with the protocols and we’re ready for it.”

It should represent a very different type of challenge for many of this Munster group.

“Physicality is undeniable with South African teams,” Rowntree continues.

“You know what’s coming – but it’s another thing trying to deal with it. It will be a real test of the basics of our game.

“Watch the Lions games, and see the size of their squad – It’s not fair… They’re huge men, and that’s a real strength of their game, the Lions. So that’s what we’ve got to deal with in the Lions game.

The Bulls, they’ve a physical backrow. Big men running at you very quickly on the high veldt. It’s a bit of a different challenge from what we’re normally used to but it’s a challenge we’ll be ready for.”

Having come up against the Springboks as both a player and a coach with England and the British and Irish Lions, Rowntree is well versed in the challenges of facing South African sides, the former loosehead prop explaining that they bring ‘a different dimension’ in his own area of expertise.

“You can’t train that too much in the working week but you can train for that collision work and there’s that much analysis out there and data available that you can look at guys, you can pinpoint certain players and see the strengths and weaknesses in their game and the lads will be prepared on that front.

“But we just train for it. We’ve done it before. There’ll be nothing alien to these lads that they’ve never experienced before. It’s just something that they’re maybe not used to week in and week out.”

Before all that, Johann van Graan’s side welcome a struggling Dragons to Thomond Park, with the Welsh side picking up just one win from nine URC games this season.

Munster have enjoyed a two-week break since beating Edinburgh 34-20 last time out, using that time to focus on sharpening up their basics, the Edinburgh game in itself a notable improvement on the 13-11 loss to Glasgow a week previously.

Breakdown is the heartbeat of the game. Teams challenge you in different ways there in terms of how they tackle and how they put pressure on the breakdown. I find you have to deal with that constantly in this league.

“And the set-piece. Your maul has to function. Your scrum has to function. On the flip side, your maul defence has to function as well. And if you’re not covering these things every week, you get caught out. And that’s one thing we have found. So we have addressed these basics to our game more than before.

“We made a lot of errors in that Glasgow game where our fundamentals just weren’t good enough. And we sorted that out, made that a big focus against Edinburgh, and we corrected that.

“And that’s what you do in this job. You’re fixing things from one week to the next. But overall, I’m happy with where we at going into a challenge on Saturday and then another challenge thereafter. But we’ll deal with the South African trip on Sunday.” 

Comedian Michael Fry is our special guest on this week’s episode of The Front Row, in partnership with Guinness. Joining host Seán Burke, Eimear Considine and Murray Kinsella, he chats about his family’s rugby background and his short-lived playing days, before using his musical ear to rank the anthems of each Guinness Six Nations team. Click here to subscribe or listen below:

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