Boxing clever

Munster versus Leinster used to be a sign that the European Cup was only around the corner with fixtures scheduled to allow the provinces integrate their returning internationals with a high intensity game prior to the start of the pool stages or knockout games. Now that they have now found a home during the Christmas and New Year holidays it has changed the nature of the fixture to one where fans can no longer expect to see fully stacked teams compete and rivalries between players for international places. The move to the festive period means that what we witnessed on Saturday in Thomond Park was not so much a heavyweight title bout but more an exhibition match and like boxing it was hyped to sell seats and subscription television. While the casual fans may see it as weakened teams any supporter with more than a passing knowledge of the game understands the IRFU Player Welfare Programme and that it provides them with the opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow in a high intensity environment.

For Munster the lack of the stars of tomorrow emerging in the last decade has been a significant worry. It’s no coincidence that the demotion in status and significance of the All Ireland League was a precursor to Munster’s decline. Munster were far too slow to react to the changes of player development early in the professional era and as Garrett Fitzgerald pointed out in his interview with Tony Leen in the Irish Examiner’s Sports Podcast, it was widely acknowledged that the other provinces were merely waiting for Leinster to get their act together and utilise their natural advantages of the school system, larger player base and location for corporate sponsorship. Once the IRFU system moved away from the AIL to academies with schools acting almost as pre academies Munster lost not only their main source of player development but also went immediately on the back foot due to lower number of top tier schools playing rugby in the province and the fact that the youths system was drastically unsuitable to have players ready for professional rugby. A lot of progress has been made in the development pathways since then but essentially it comes down to numbers game and a much wider player pool at intake level gives Leinster a huge advantage, which should be amplified with “weakened” teams. Despite winning only 7 of the 24 fixtures this decade against Leinster, Munster have to first aim at closing the gap at the top level. Munster need to ensure that they have a first fifteen/twenty three capable of matching and beating Leinster on a regular basis.

Eight appearances in the knockout stages of European competition over the last decade shows that Munster have been competitive but if anything it shows that they have overachieved. Munster have identified that a game plan of low risk, heavy carriers in rotation from slow ruck ball is not going to win them silverware. It will get them consistently into the knockouts but that’s the ceiling that they have failed to break. To do so they are going to have to take risks and it is not something that will come together overnight. Munster need time to allow this transition period to take shape. The new system and coaches are asking different and difficult questions of the players. Players skill sets are being tested and we are seeing more and more is that under pressure Munster are not there yet. The game on Saturday saw defences on top with neither side able to impose their preferred attacking patterns on the game. Munster against a top defence with excellent line speed couldn’t execute their skills under pressure to move the ball wide to get past the Leinster midfield before it shot up and stifled their attack. As a result Munster were constantly forced to kick or take hard carries back into a Leinster defence waiting for them. Leinster won because they showed better execution under pressure and their try came from a strike move designed to allow their ball carriers fold around the space they themselves created in the outside centre/openside wing channel.

Mike Tyson used to say of his opponents “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face” and so far this season Munster haven’t been able to react and stick with the plan when they’ve been hit hardest. What I want to see against Ulster, Racing and Ospreys is Munster sticking with the new style, playing heads up rugby and executing under pressure. I said at the start of the season that to me this looked like a season of transition with next year being where Munster could come back to the very top table and my view on that hasn’t changed. With the additions of Snyman and De Allende Munster add two elite ball carriers to their starting fifteen. The game time given this season to Casey, Knox and Daly will only make the match twenty day 23 stronger. There is still a long way to go this season but even now I think we as fans have to accept that results this season may be less important than ensuring the players are upskilled and the style of play needed to take us forward can be implemented fully. No one is denying it’s risky to change a relatively successful approach to try and bring greater success but to finish off the boxing analogies with words from one greatest fighter of all time, Muhammad Ali, “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life”