RUGBY ANALYST:For Munster to negotiate very stiff opposition, the front five will have to be very direct in how they carry

WITH THE middle matches of the Heineken Cup pools upon us, it was all homework last weekend. It’s very hard to benchmark the performance of our opposition in Europe this weekend against those from last week in the RaboDirect Pro12 and the Aviva Premiership, especially with the Wallabies in Wales.

That said much can be gleaned from how Ulster entertained Scarlets in Ravenhill last Friday night. No doubt Munster will have noticed how Scarlets sprinted ahead somewhat fortuitously before Ulster knuckled down to some very powerful play in terrible conditions to win out.

In previous weeks Ulster had fallen foul on two fronts. Firstly they got sucked into precision plays that didn’t come off but in erring they placed untold pressure on themselves. They continued at times in this fashion against Scarlets and although they have a reasonably manageable match this evening against Aironi, they need to build momentum and most importantly, recognise when the bullying starts and react accordingly.

Secondly Ulster, when making these keys errors on the gain line, have allowed themselves to be bullied, especially in the Heineken Cup. They found themselves down by two tries in the opening 19 minutes to a terrible early interception from Seán Lamont and then a gift from their South African number eight, Pedrie Wannenburg.

Very encouragingly Ulster bullied their way back into the match. From Munster’s point of view Ulster managed this primarily up front, where Stephen Ferris was sensational, battering Scarlets at will. But where Mike Tindall bashes away and there’s very little subtlety, with Ferris there is. Although he carried for an unreal 138 metres he has also developed the uncanny ability to know when not to carry but to offload through a gentle pass or a wider version. This forces the opposition to honey pot on him anticipating a run but the simplest of passes can put others away (Simon Zebo take note!).

Big Dan Touhy offered as well in heavy traffic. John Afoa is back at tighthead and boy is he worth watching. He’s no Ferris but he has brilliant feet. Munster will draw huge encouragement from how the Ulster frontrow fared at scrum time, in particular Tom Court at loosehead, who destroyed Deacon Manu.

It’ll be very interesting to see how Scarlets react to the huge blow that is Doug Howlett’s injury. Along with Keith Earls and Felix Jones out, pace has been eroded in Munster. Will Scarlets force a higher work-rate from their speedster Tongan Viliame Iongi, who would put the fear of God into any defence but can drift out of matches?

To counter that Munster will need to mimic how Ulster got on top. The ever-improving Paul Marshall was sensational around the fringes and punished Scarlets, who defend with big numbers in midfield.

For Munster to negotiate very stiff opposition, the front five will have to be very direct in how they carry, staying big and pumping their legs to suck in the Scarlets numbers, which will reduce the midfield strength and create some mismatches to exploit. We know Stephen Jones very well and where Ronan O’Gara is relishing this chapter of his career, Jones appears laboured where the tempo of the game drops as he goes through his plays. He can stand very deep and take the ball from a standing start. Contrast that to Ian Humphreys, who’s not quite at his best but remains full of energy, which his team-mates feed off, ditto with O’Gara.

Scarlets scrumhalf Gareth Davies possesses a very sharp long pass, which affords time for Jones and his kicking. Ironically this could work in Munster’s favour as he sits way back in the pocket. Jones can get impatient with the Scarlets’ pods of four and revert to kicks early.

I’ll be in the Sportsground tomorrow where Connacht have more than a chance against Gloucester. There are some very strong parts to Gloucester’s play, notably their defensive line speed where throughout the 80 minutes all numbers fly off the line in pursuit of a big hit, which when landed are very big.

Certainly against Newcastle Falcons last week their line speed looked impressive but in their hunger for the hit, combined with their speed of movement, their tackle technique slipped at times, most notably inside 10 in that channel that’s often no man’s land. The challenge for Connacht is maintaining their composure as the hits fly in. When given the opportunity to play Connacht are more than capable but tomorrow they’ll need to be very precise on the ball.

An added incentive for precision is the threat offered by Tindall. He is crucial as a ball carrier for Gloucester and will require a double hit from Connacht as he tends to elect for a rumble in contact rather than a deft offload. Tindall brings more to the game than a rumble; he’s a big kicker and tackler but his more important role is that of a decoy to afford Gloucester winger Simpson Daniel, in particular, opportunities. Although their outhalf is somewhat flat the Gloucester waves come from deep. As Connacht get sucked into making those hits the Gloucester blindside wingers are very dangerous from deep. This is where Tindall, running a hard line shaping to crash into the Connacht defence, can prove very distracting as Daniel skips in from deep.

As can be expected Gloucester love their scrum and even more their maul. If Connacht can reach parity here, defend their try line at lineout maul time, avoid Tindall and don’t get distracted with their decoys whilst maintaining precision on the ball, they have a chance.

Having watched Bath last weekend they appear a long way from their glory days. But Bath of yore could mimic the current Leinster approach of hard lines, subtle offloads, where Eoin O’Malley has typified the culture of always expect the pass to arrive so occupy the correct space. Bath had precious little of this on show, electing to batter Matt Banahan in midfield. What difference All Black World Cup winner Stephen Donald makes to their play remains to be seen on Sunday.

There’s every chance all four provinces will equip themselves well this weekend and all four will be very disappointed to come away without a result. Munster have much to handle as Howlett has been their standout player thus far. His interplay with Danny Barnes on the way to that season-defining try rooting Ben Foden on half-time against the Saints in Thomond Park was vintage Howlett. He will be missed.

I expect an awful lot of kicking this weekend where Scarlets in particular will lead the way. A short distance away in Bath Jonny Sexton take note, it’s a ridiculously short dead-ball area in the Rec so extreme precision is called for on those cross-field kicks!

PS: Surely there are plenty of players in Ireland who could be sitting on the bench ahead of Springbok Stefan Terblanche (36) in Ravenhill tonight. Don’t call me surely.

liamtoland@yahoo.com