“For Munster, this is their final. Coming up to Dublin and trying to turn over Leinster in their back yard. It’s going to be a great game.”
Former Munster centre James Downey spent two seasons at the southern province and he knows how they get themselves up for games against Leinster.
Downey was joined by former Leinster centre Eoin O’Malley on The Hard Yards and both men looked ahead to this weekend’s Guinness PRO14 semi-final between Leinster and Munster at The RDS [from 34:00 below].
Downey believes Munster should look to the high-pressing and aggressive tackling game that Racing 92 put out against Leinster in the Champions Cup final. The French side slowed the game down, poured a lot of energy into set-pieces and kept the scoreboard ticking over wit penalties.
The tactics worked a treat until Isa Nacewa’s two late penalties saw the Blues grind out a 15-12 win. Downey said:
“Get points and get that scoeboard ticking over. It’s the small things they need to do.
“It’s cup rugby. It’s 80 minutes and, look, who knows. I just think Leinster are just too strong, unfortunately. Their squad has so much depth… It’s all there for Munster but I just can’t see it.”
Looking at both sides now, and the players they have left fit at this late stage in the season, Leinster have the clear advantage. They have so many players in form and, such is their squad depth, they can cope with the loss of the excellent Robbie Henshaw without missing too much of a beat.
Of the current Munster side, only four of their players would make it into our combined XV. Conor Murray and Keith Earls are the bankers but, after that, the debates begin.
The two other Munster players that make the team are CJ Stander, who edges out the in-form Jordi Murphy, and Simon Zebo. Zebo gets in ahead of James Lowe and Jordan Larmour but that is a close call.
The only other players that come close are Peter O’Mahony and Rhys Marshall. However, Scott Fardy has had a superb season for Leinster (at lock and blindside) and Sean Cronin has produced the good for his province since the turn of the year. Even with Isa Nacewa switching back to midfield, he holds off the challenge of Rory Scannell.
11 Leinster and 4 Munster. That’s the current lay of the land but Munster will back themselves to do what no team in the Champions Cup could manage this season and beat this impressive Leinster side.
COMBINED TEAM
15. Rob Kearney
14. Keith Earls
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Isa Nacewa
11. Simon Zebo10. Johnny Sexton
9. Conor Murray1. Cian Healy
2. Sean Cronin
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Devin Toner
5. James Ryan
6. Scott Fardy
7. Dan Leavy
8. CJ Stander
