AS GRAHAM ROWNTREE likes to point out, Munster don’t tend to do things the easy way.
Last year the province claimed an unlikely URC title by winning a series of knockout games on the road and this season, they overcame a challenging period in which they were plagued by injuries to build a strong run of form and finish top of the URC table.
And after all that hard work, they almost let pole position slip from their grip on the final day. Munster were poor for large periods of Saturday’s 29-24 defeat of Ulster but to their credit, they found a way to get over the line and win a game they were trailing for the majority of the 80 minutes.
It all means that if Munster are to retain the URC trophy over the coming weeks, they’ll do it while enjoying home comforts.
It’s a significant boost to their hopes of going back-to-back. When Munster were waning against a determined Ulster side, the Thomond Park faithful came to life and helped spur their team to victory.
“It is special,” said Rowntree.
“We are genuinely spoilt with our support, home and away. We have spoken about it as a group, about being able to play here without getting ahead of ourselves.
“I spoke at the start of the week about the irrelevance, the irrelevance of permutations around home semi-final, home final, it doesn’t matter, you have to win this game, you have to win this game against a team who are rejuvenated.
It is a special place to play. Full stop. It is a cathedral of rugby, this.”
Munster have plenty to fix from a scrappy display with a quick turnaround for their quarter-final clash with Ospreys in Limerick on Friday night. Win that, and they’ll host either Glasgow Warriors or the Stormers at Thomond in the semi-finals.
Yet home advantage doesn’t guarantee success. In the first-half the home side struggled for cohesion while they clocked up a number of poor basic errors, before a powerful Munster bench helped them seize control of the contest after the break.
Still, winning was all that mattered, and with nine straight wins in the URC behind them Munster will approach the knockouts with confidence.
Rory Scannell is expected to miss out after suffering a nasty looking ankle injury against Ulster, although Rowntree hopes to welcome back Antoine Frisch. Fellow centre Alex Nankivell has yet to be ruled out but the game will probably come too soon as he continues to rehab an ankle injury.
After offering his thoughts on the performance, Rowntree gave some detail on the recent comings and goings announced by the province.
Munster have confirmed Frisch will join Toulon at the end of the season, while Simon Zebo is also entering his final weeks as a Munster player after announcing he will retire this summer.
“Frisch, it is what it is. He wants to play for France and play in France. I’m not going to stand in his way. He’s been brilliant for us as a player, I’m disappointed that he’s leaving, wanted him to stay but I’m not going to keep someone here who doesn’t want to be here, frankly.
“Zeebs, what more does he have to prove? I think if you come to the end of your game and you can finish on your terms then it’s a big deal. And look at the way he’s playing. He’s going to finish on his terms.
He’s a great energy around the group. It’s not a question of you know he’s in the room, you know he’s in the building, you know he’s in Limerick!
“He’s a legend. I wouldn’t use that word loosely, he’s a club legend but he’s going out on his terms.”
Munster have already made moves to plug those holes, with 25-year-old Thaakir Abrahams to join on a two-year-deal from Lyon this summer.
“Tuckie is his nickname. He calls me Wig, I call him Tuckie,” Rowntree added.
“We’ve done our research on him. A bit of a left-field signing but not for us. Ian Costello, who is our head of rugby operations, is involved in recruitment now with myself and Philip Quinn, and he did a lot of research.
“We’ve been looking for a quality back-three signing but we’ve the diligence about the ability to settle in Limerick and fit in with the squad. We were speaking to his school rugby coaches, the people that have worked with him, that’s the diligence we’ve gone into.
“I think he’ll be brilliant for us.”
