Stuttering Munster hope for home comfort

STUTTERING Munster will be hoping that the home comforts of playing at Thomond Park can inspire them to a much-needed Magners League victory over high-flying Ulster this Saturday (5pm).
Out-of-sorts Munster have lost three of their last four fixtures, all away from home, and Tony McGahan’s men are badly in need of a timely boost before the Magners League takes a five-week break during the autumn internationals.
While Munster have struggled on the road in recent weeks, the province boasts an impressive home record, winning their last 10 home fixtures at Thomond Park and Musgrave Park.
While Munster lie in sixth place in the Magners League table, Saturday’s opponents Ulster jumped to top spot with a gritty victory over Leinster at Ravenhill on Saturday.
Munster back-row forward David Wallace accepted that it had been a difficult month for the squad. He also feels that individual errors had contributed to the side’s disappointing run of results in recent weeks.
Wallace, a tryscorer in Munster’s defeat by Edinburgh last weekend said: “It has been a tough month. Certainly from the Edinburgh game, we didn’t play well, but we still felt that we let a couple if chances just slip. We were putting ourselves in a position to win the game, but we didn’t do it.
“We did not play as well as we wanted to, but we were still there or there abouts. If a few things had gone our way, we could have won.
“I think the Leinster game was very disappointing. We all felt very upset after that match. We were well beaten. But we have not been playing extremely poorly.
“At times, we have been playing well. At times, maybe it has been in fits and bursts and not as constant or consistent as we would have liked it to be.
“We have been making individual errors which has been setting us back and letting teams back into games. We can take a lot from the game the last day against Edinburgh. We felt we played poorly, but were still within a score at the end of the game. We are happy with what we want to do. It’s a question of going out and doing it. Everyone has to raise the bar a little bit more. Hopefully, that will happen next weekend.
“There have been a couple of sub par performances. Everyone is convinced we can go that bit further and we are too and raise it. That is the plan. Ulster coming down this weekend is a big challenge. They are going very, very well. We had a tough game down here in Thomond Park last season and we really want to put it right. They have good players coming through, but so do we.
“I suppose whatever XV goes out there and whoever wants it more will walk away with the goods. We are thinking about producing a good, positive performance, winning, winning playing good rugby and playing like we know we can. That is the gameplan.”
Munster coach Tony McGahan has limited options in the front-row ahead of Saturday evening’s game and must again plan without Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, Tony Buckley, Dave Ryan and the suspended John Hayes.
Prop Horan, who has been named in the Irish squad for the autumn internationals, was forced off in the Heineken Cup win over Treviso after reporting feeling unwell.
Munster manager Shaun Payne said the 32-year-old had a viral infection and suffered bouts of dizziness. Horan is having further tests.
Tony Buckley will be sidelined for a couple of weeks with a calf injury, while Dave Ryan has had an operation on his elbow and could be out of action for up to 12 weeks.
Jerry Flannery took a limited part in training in this week, but is not included in the Munster squad for the Ulster game. However, the hooker is named in the Irish squad for the autumn internationals. Jeremy Manning has had a shoulder operation and will be sidelined for 12 to 16 weeks.
Alan Quinlan, rested against Edinburgh last week returns to the squad. Doug Howlett is again ruled out of the threequarter line where there’s a recall for fit again Barry Murphy.

Munster squad v Ulster: Felix Jones, Keith Earls, Barry Murphy, Denis Hurley, Ian Dowling, Jean de Villiers, Lifeimi Mafi, Paul Warwick, Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer, Tomas O’Leary, Nick Williams, David Wallace, Niall Ronan, Denis Leamy, Alan Quinlan, Mick O’Driscoll, Donnacha Ryan, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Damian Varley, Denis Fogarty, AN Other, Stephen Archer, Julien Brugnaut and Darragh Hurley.

Colm Kinsella