Denis Leamy was part of Munster’s golden era. He played in their two Heineken Cup-winning sides of 2006 and 2008, scoring a try in the final against Toulouse, as well as the Magners League titles of 2009 and 2011. Yet in the immediate aftermath of the province’s URC triumph last season, he rated it on a par with those momentous European triumphs.
The homecoming last May was never likely to be on the same scale as those in 2006 or 2008. Even so, you wonder if Munster’s achievement in winning three consecutive knockout matches away to Glasgow, Leinster and the Stormers - then the reigning champions - has received the credit it deserved.
Either way, Leamy stands by his assertion.
“I think as a competition it is really brilliant, and I believe that trophy, having to go to places like South Africa, beating a really good Leinster team and going to Glasgow to play a phenomenal, physically challenging team like Glasgow, to obviously get ourselves into position in the season itself. . . I think it ranks right up there.
“I really do think it was a win of huge value to the province. I really feel that the competition brings a lot of kudos with it.”
Munster and the Stormers meet again next Saturday at Thomond Park (5.15pm) in a reprise of the decider last May, when there was a URC/Pro14/12 record attendance of 56,344 in Cape Town.
Leamy is hopeful that the significance of this Saturday’s rematch will be reflected in the atmosphere.
“I’m not sure what numbers we’re expecting at the stadium but I get the feeling organically that the amount of people looking for tickets is up an awful lot more than it was for the Dragons, for example. So there are certainly people out there looking for tickets.
“The World Cup has gone through the system now. It’s over a few weeks at this stage. The appetite for domestic rugby is really starting to pick up. I hope we have a good crowd in Thomond Park. I’ve no doubt that they will bring a huge atmosphere. It will be a quality game but there will also be a huge amount of people tuning in from across Munster and the diaspora across the world.”
The Stormers are without their World Cup-winning contingent of Frans Malherbe, Deon Fourie, Manie Libbok and Damian Willemse. They have remained in Treviso after last Saturday’s 20-17 defeat before moving on to Limerick for the third leg of a four-match tour which began in Glasgow and next week takes them to Cardiff.
However, the 23-year-old Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who scored 38 points in his three starts this season, will return after missing the match against Benetton while loosehead prop Sti Sithole has joined the squad in Italy after Lizo Gqoboka suffered a long-term injury.
“I would say they are one of the best teams in the League, regardless of them missing their ‘Boks,” said Munster’s defence coach, whose respect for the threat they pose is palpable.
“These guys have been in two finals over the last two years, they won one of them and came very close to winning the other. We’ve come up against them a lot, we’ve analysed them a lot, they’re incredibly talented. As individuals they are scary fast, they have unbelievable passing ability in terms of moving at speed.
“They present difficulties around defending fractured play, then you look at their power game, their scrum, their maul, their ability to pound you through big, big forward carries, it presents so many challenges.
“It’s always a great challenge, analysing them, and it’s always a big ask to go out and defend against them, especially. But also the line speed they bring in defence against your attack. It takes an awful lot of calmness, good shape and being brave to try to break them down.
“So, it presents a big challenge and, I suppose, a big competitor to go up against.”
Munster are also looking to bounce back from a defeat, 21-14 away to Ulster last Friday having led 14-3 at the end of the first quarter.
“We take the lead in the game, we’re in a very good position. We started as well, if not better, than we have for a while, and bit by bit we started to lose the key battles,” reflected Leamy.
“We started to lose set-piece, around the breakdown became very, very difficult around the interpretations and our accuracy around the breakdown in terms of our ball control. All those little bits and pieces, defensively we put ourselves under pressure off the back of that. We missed the odd tackle and Ulster in fairness to them were good enough to take advantage of that.
“It’s a difficult position to be in; never nice to lose. We’ve taken the bits and pieces out of it that we need to improve on. We looked in detail at that, and I know for a fact we’ll be better this weekend.”
Munster are rumoured to be interested in the Crusaders prop, Oli Jager, once of Newbridge College and Blackrock College, as well as the Irish Under-18s.
“I don’t know anything about that, Wig [Graham Rowntree] is the only man in this building that will know anything about that,” said Leamy, smiling. “I can’t help you on that one.”
Even when asked about his impressions of Jager, Leamy said: “I stood beside him once, I know he’s bigger and heavier than me, so that’s about all I know about him!”
