'It's play-off rugby now' - Munster must get the job done in make-or-break Cork clash
Nothing enhances performances better than a positive mindset and Munster's return to winning ways last weekend has flipped their task at home to fellow URC play-off contenders Benetton in Cork on Friday night on its head.
Not that the challenge posed by the Treviso-based side, with a team loaded with Italian internationals spearhead by centre pairing Tommaso Menoncello and Ignacio Brex, has been downplayed but last Friday's 38-10 bonus-point win over Ulster has sent confidence levels soaring at the Irish province.
The six-try performance was one of Munster's best of the season and in snapping a three-game losing streak that began with a Champions Cup quarter-final exit at Bordeaux-Begles, it allowed Ian Costello's team to finally shake off the post-European hangover that had threatened to engulf what remains of their campaign.
That has served them immeasurably well in their preparations for this 18th and final round of the regular season, when only a victory will ensure a top-eight finish and knockout URC rugby beyond this weekend, as well as that all-important ticket to the 2025-26 Champions Cup draw.
Failure to reach Europe's top tier competition for the first time in its 30-year history was described as 'inconceivable' by scrum-half Craig Casey but it took the older head of second row and World Cup winner Jean Kleyn to boil the challenge down to its essence ahead of this must-win game at a sold-out Virgin Media Park.
'It's basically a round of 16 for us, you have to win this game if you want to play the next one and that's what we'll do,' Kleyn declared.
'We'll play this game, hopefully we win it and then we'll travel to South Africa, Glasgow or wherever we need to do and do our best to win our game, then travel to wherever and do our best to win that game and then at the end of it hopefully we lift the cup.
'Rugby is an easy thing. We've done it before, we can do it again. We just need to get behind it. Last week was good for us. A really good confidence building training week, this week has been the same.
'Hopefully we can keep building that attitude. After the (Champions Cup) quarter-final, there's always that mental dip, the emotional downfall… the off-week we had really re-set us, we're in it now, there's a cut to training and the boys are eager.
'It's play-off rugby now, everyone wants to make their mark and have the chance to play. It's good to have that competitive nature around the place.'
Munster will stick with the 23-man matchday squad which delivered that bonus-point win over Ulster a week ago, with an unchanged starting line-up and bench from the 38-10 derby win at Thomond Park last Friday when Peter O'Mahony, Stephen Archer and Conor Murray made their final appearances there ahead of their summer departures.
Now it is Cork's turn for a fond farewell to the veteran trio and Virgin Media Park will be at its 8,800 capacity as hometown heroes Archer and O'Mahony start in the forward pack ahead of their retirements while scrum-half Murray's home swansong off the bench comes before moving overseas to a new club. Casey is set for his 100th and Kleyn his 150th Munster appearance also and the objective is for them all not to end their seasons this weekend.
Naming an unchanged line-up for the first time this season is an undoubted boost to Munster's hopes of at least hanging onto to the eighth and final qualification spot in the standings and the 2023 URC title run, when O'Mahony led his side through a closing league run in South Africa with a win and a draw at the Stormers and Sharks before three road wins in a row should be motivation enough that anything is possible this time around.
Yet Benetton, level on points with Munster and a place ahead in the standings, represent a significant hurdle to reaching those play-offs and Leamy is extremely wary of not looking beyond this Round 18 clash. Munster will need to find another gear from last Friday, and make further improvements to their still inconsistent lineout, to reach their objective. That will avoid the anxious wait for results from around the league with 10th-placed Edinburgh and ninth-placed Cardiff both in action on Friday and breathing down their necks.
As defence coach Denis Leamy this week emphasised, Munster have no choice but get the job done themselves.
'There's no divine right to be in Europe. You have to work hard every day, and that's what our intention is on Friday night, to put our best foot forward and to work as hard as we can, and get the best out of ourselves.'
MUNSTER: T Abrahams; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, D Kilgallen; J Crowley, C Casey; M Milne, N Scannell, S Archer; J Kleyn, T Beirne - captain; P O'Mahony, J Hodnett, G Coombes.
Replacements: L Barron, J Wycherley, J Ryan, F Wycherley, T Ahern, C Murray, S O'Brien, A Kendellen.
BENETTON: R Smith; I Mendy, T Menoncello, I Brex, P Odogwu; J Umaga, A Garbisi; T Gallo, S Maile, S Ferrari; S Scrafton, F Ruzza – captain; R Favretto, M Zuliani, L Cannone Replacements: B Bernasconi, M Spagnolo, T Pasquali, N Cannone, S Negri, N Casilio, T Albornoz, M Fekitoa Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland) End Information Classification - GREEN: Unrestricted
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