URC preview: Munster v Connacht
Venue: Thomond Park, Limerick.
Kick-off: Saturday, 7.45pm.
On TV: Live on TG4 and Premier Sports.
When these two went at it last season, well, they sure went at it. The clash in Limerick and the historic day in Castlebar last March were among the most entertaining and positive spectacles of the United Rugby Championship (URC) season. Munster emerged with a maximum 10 points, Connacht with a consolation of four points, from two richly entertaining encounters garnished with nine tries apiece and 122 points.
RM Block
So anything resembling those crackers would do nicely. And while you never know, admittedly the latest instalment between these neighbouring provinces is denied the five players each provides the Ireland squad in Chicago as well as the customary casualty list for a fifth URC game running.
Clayton McMillan has made seven changes from the Munster side that stormed Croke Park last weekend with a 34-14 bonus point win over Leinster.
Stuart Lancaster has made nine from the Connacht side which lost 28-27 at home to the Bulls.
For Connacht, Mayo native and academy player Harry West will make his debut in a new-look back three with Finn Treacy on the left wing and Byron Ralston shifting from centre to the right wing. Galway natives Cathal Forde and Hugh Gavin are named as the new centre pairing, while Ben Murphy comes in at scrumhalf to partner outhalf Josh Ioane, meaning Matty Devine is confined to bench duty again and is still, curiously, awaiting his first start of the season until at least the end of November.
In the pack there are starts for props Jordan Duggan and Sam Illo, whose form has gone to a new level this season, alongside hooker Dave Heffernan, whose 21 carries last weekend were the highest of any player in round 4.
In the second row, Joe Joyce comes in to partner Darragh Murray, while Paul Boyle returns from injury to captain the side at openside flanker alongside Josh Murphy and No.8 Sean Jansen. Lancaster has opted for a 6-2 bench, including academy prop Fiachna Barrett. Connacht will be desperate to rectify two narrow defeats and end a run of eight losses in interpro derbies.
The unfavourable 7.45pm kick-off, and ensuing late finish, is ill-suited to a province seeking to generate support from a broad, six-county base. Even so, you’d imagine the Munster fans, and especially those present here, will have been as buoyed as the squad by last weekend’s statement win over their rivals in blue.
There has been an evident buy-in to the McMillan project by his re-energised players and he says the squad turned the page pretty quickly at the start of the week. Yet rescaling the emotional peak of last weekend will be tricky, but it could be the ideal fixture to act as an antidote to any hint of “After the Lord Mayor’s Ball”.
“I would like to think so,” McMillan says. “We want to make Thomond Park and Virgin Media Park [in Cork] really, really tough places to come and play.
“You’re always aware there’s an edge about you when you go in behind the enemy lines, but we need other people to feel that same way when they come here and we can only do that through our performances.
“We’re aware that there will be a lot of eyes and a lot of interest on how the team bounces back. I think it’s really hard to get to that same emotional level every week. It’s a tough thing to do.
“That’s why you celebrate the teams that can do that consistently, and if you even happen to be a little bit short in that emotional stuff, then everything else has to be pinpoint accurate.
“So at the weekend, for us, we will hopefully be at that same emotional level. Time will tell. But if we aren’t, then everything else has to be on point: our scrum, our lineout, our tactical kicking game, our handling, our discipline.
“It’s when you don’t have the edge or the emotion and you’re inaccurate, then you get yourself in trouble.”
There is a fascinating subplot to this game in that McMillan coached Ioane for two years at New Zealand’s Chiefs, where the outhalf played 29 games.
Ioane scored tries in both of last season’s meetings, including on his Connacht debut here, and has done so in his two starts this season.
There has been plenty of evidence of his exceptional ability to take the ball to the line and pick the right option, either to put team-mates through gaps or use his acceleration and footwork to do so himself. Whatever about his kicking game, it’s doubtful any outhalf in Irish rugby is better at taking the ball to the line.
“He’s always had that,” McMillan says. “He’s immensely talented with ball in hand. His decision to leave New Zealand, I think, was a good one because he was just sitting in behind some other guys who are just slightly ahead, but it was no reflection on him as a rugby player. I was pleased for him to come up here and do well.
“He’s one of those guys who’s just got fast hands, fast feet and always challenging the line and if you just go to sleep for a second it’ll hurt you. So, yep, we’ll need to put a big X on his back,” the Munster head coach said with a wry smile, before adding more aptly, “or front.”
Munster: Shane Daly, Diarmuid Kilgallen, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams, JJ Hanrahan, Ethan Coughlan; Michael Milne, Lee Barron, John Ryan, Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley, Jack O’Donoghue (CAPT), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes. Replacements: Niall Scannell, Jeremy Loughman, Ronan Foxe, Evan O’Connell, Ruadhán Quinn, Jake O’Riordan, Tony Butler, Shay McCarthy
Connacht: Harry West, Byron Ralston, Hugh Gavin, Cathal Forde, Finn Treacy, Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy, Jordan Duggan, Dave Heffernan, Sam Illo, Joe Joyce, Darragh Murray, Josh Murphy, Paul Boyle (CAPT), Sean Jansen. Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Peter Dooley, Fiachna Barrett, Niall Murray, David O’Connor, Matthew Devine, Sean Naughton, Sean O’Brien
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 57th league game)
Assistant referees: Peter Martin (IRFU), Chris Lough (IRFU)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
Forecast: Munster to win.
