SUDDENLY, after such an encouraging start to the season, Munster have suffered back-to-back defeats, the most recent of which was the weekend’s Champions Cup outing at Bath.
That 40-14 loss at The Rec hurts, somewhat similar to the heavy Cup defeat against Cardiff (48-18) way back in 1996.
The earlier season setback was to Stormers in the URC.
Munster now face a critical contest with Gloucester at a likely sold-out Páirc Uà Chaoimh, Cork, on Saturday (referee: Ben Breakspear, Wales, kick-off 5.30pm).
- External Walls: Up to €8,000 Grant
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The visitors will provide stiff opposition and their performance in Saturday’s 34-14 home bonus-point defeat of Castres was impressive.
Still, Gloucester may well still have weaknesses.
At Kingsholm, it was level at 14-14 nearing the closing stages, but even losing Deian Gwynne to the bin, Gloucester finished strongly with a crucial brace of tries from impact substitute Charlie Atkinson.
The upcoming fixture for Munster is crucial and Clayton McMillan’s side will have to dig out a high-class and courageous 80 minutes to maintain Cup interest.
Munster are not having an easy time with referees and when captain Tadhg Byrne was sin-binned over in England, Bath took advantage.
It will be interesting to see if McMillan makes changes for the outing Leeside.
It is expected that Jack O’Donoghue will make a comeback after a concussion concern.
JJ Hanrahan performed well against Bath and is sure to start, as Jack Crowley is not available;
It’s unlikely that there will be changes in the back line.
In a welcome development, Shannon International Craig Casey, 26, has signed a two-year contract extension with Munster.
With the province, scrum-half Casey has made over 100 appearances (since debuting against Connacht in 2019), during which he has grabbed 22 tries.
Casey, now one of our main leaders, has earned 24 senior caps for Ireland.