IT’S imperative – following recent losses to Glasgow Warriors, Bulls, and Cardiff – that Munster account for Ulster in this Friday night’s URC outing at Thomond Park (7.35pm).
Otherwise, The Reds (currently ninth in the standings) may not qualify for the last eight of a competition in which it won outright only two seasons ago.
Since the departure of Graham Rowntree late last year, there has been a bit of upheaval in the club, and this has been reflected in the results.
You can’t blame the coaching staff, and the players are certainly giving their best efforts, but in recent matches Munster just can’t manage to pull away in the closing stages of fixtures.
It might have been a marathon competition, but this season’s URC is set up for a gala finish with four teams, Leinster, Glasgow, Bulls, and Sharks, already qualified for the play-offs.
It is amazing that there are still 10 teams, among them Ulster, in the running for the other four places, making the last couple of rounds (v Ulster and Benneton) ‘must win’ fixtures.
Ulster have a strong side with seasoned players such as Rob Herring, John Cooney, Ian Henderson, and man of the moment Jacob Stockdale.
After the weekend defeat against the Sharks, Stockdale said: “I’m gutted we didn’t get the win, but we’ve got a couple of games left to try and squeeze into the play-offs. So our focus has to shift to our remaining games.”
Home coach Ian Costelloe will have to pull out all the stops for this clash but unfortunately Thomond Park is losing its ‘Fortress’ tag at times this season.
Let’s hope that the Red Army can get behind their side a bit better, help them finish in eighth position and set up that mouth-watering clash with beaten Champions Cup semi-finalists Leinster in the knock-outs.
