MUNSTER v Leinster on Tuesday… a slice of Christmas for us to enjoy.
A local derby that transcends sporting animosity and should leave players salivating with hunger and desire.
The European Cup may be the competition everyone wants to win, but when it comes to local derbies, you have to find two teams who despise each other so much, whether it’s an ERC final, a URC league match or a preliminaries. – seasonally friendly.
I’m not saying we’re in for a game full of Fijian prowess, but I expect to see an 80-minute show where players put their bodies on the line until their pins hit the table. Since the start of the season, Munster have given us incredible performances. However, mixed in with the brilliance is an inexplicable amateurishness that a team with a Munster pedigree should not display.
At the level that Munster play every week, small mistakes can turn into game-changing moments and I think it’s now very apparent that the quality of this team is nowhere near good enough to match the level of consistency required.
Rowntree has to deal with injuries in his squad and whether it’s a lack of experience or a lack of confidence, the last two results have shown us that the team is seriously lacking something.
I have no doubt that the younger players have what it takes in terms of personality to be split among the older lemons. The missing ingredient for me is leadership, and as we’ve seen over the last two weekends, this team has been akin to a pack of rabbits scared by the headlights of an oncoming freight train when it matters most.
I think it’s fair to say that the team Graham Rowntree hopes to mold is very much in its infancy when it comes to the dark arts of doing whatever it takes to win.
If Munster want to swim with the big sharks again, they need to be clear that drawing with Aviron Bayonnais B at Thomond Park and facing a team like Exeter is simply unacceptable.
It’s great to play great rugby with walks, but if the scoreboard doesn’t favor going to the final whistle, all the cartwheels, back spins and pirouettes are pointless. It also doesn’t help when it’s announced mid-season that one of the best players in the world is leaving to join your hated rivals.
It was bad enough to hear that two-time World Cup winner RJ Snyman was leaving at the end of the playing year after Munster had done well for him in rehabilitation, and it was even worse to hear that he was set to join the former Munster. trainer Johann van Gaan in Bath.