4 days ago
Costello believes Munster's 'deep purpose' can help province upset odds away to Sharks
Ian Costello believes the 'deep purpose' driving his Munster squad after a difficult campaign can help the province deliver the very best performance he believes will be required to upset the odds and beat South Africa's third-seeded Sharks in Saturday's URC quarter-final in Durban.
The 2023 champions will likely have to repeat their remarkable run of three away knockout wins that brought a first trophy to Munster in 12 years two seasons ago, if they are to emerge from 2024-25 with silverware.
The first leg of their title bid comes at Kings Park this weekend against a Springbok-heavy Sharks side that beat the Irishmen 41-24 on their most recent visit to Durban last October.
That proved to be the final game of title-winning head coach Graham Rowntree's tenure with Munster's Head of Rugby Operations Costello assuming the role of interim head coach for what has been the majority of the season.
His side only secured Champions Cup rugby for next term on the last day of the URC regular season, with a second consecutive bonus-point home win, against Benetton in Cork on May 16, sealing sixth place in the final standings and booking a ticket into the knockout rounds.
Munster arrived in Durban on Tuesday ahead of their last-eight clash but Costello is under no illusions about the size of the task facing his squad on Saturday evening, describing the challenge as being against 'a serious side… and a very tough place to go and play them.'
Yet speaking from South Africa shortly after the 32-player squad's arrival by the Indian Ocean on Tuesday afternoon, the interim boss dismissed the notion that the quarter-final was a free hit for his squad, and though the pressure of European qualification had been lifted, he explained there had been a deliberate shift in Munster's mindset.
"I think we probably very explicitly shifted focus over the last couple of weeks to make it about people, make it about people that we care about and individuals within the squad and what they contributed to Munster, and that brings a different type of pressure,' Costello said.
'It's very personal. It's very deep. And then playing at home in front of your fans, your friends and your family, that brings a huge amount of pressure as well. But it also deflected away from maybe the league table and the pressure in the Champions Cup.
"And again, this week for us, there are just people who are with the group, that it's their last season. We've been through a lot in the last six, seven months, so there is a real deep purpose and a deep cause within the team.
"It absolutely isn't a free shot. There's an expectation we need to be in knockout rugby, there's a lot of pressure to get there. But now that we're here, we're very, very ambitious on what we want to achieve. But again, this is the first test and a really difficult one on Saturday.'
Costello insisted the Munster squad, led by captain Tadhg Beirne, was good enough to score a famous result over the Sharks, but added: "We need to get our best or very, very close to it.
'We need to be accurate. We need to execute well and physically, mentally and emotionally, we need to be at the right pitch. If we are, I absolutely believe that we have the ability to.
"I have a huge amount of faith in the players. I have a huge amount of faith in the coaches, Mike (Prendergast), Denis (Leamy), Mossy (Lawler), George (Murray), Alex (Codling), the plan that they've put together. So I absolutely do agree.
"There's a lot that goes into winning a game of that size against a team of that quality. But if we're close to our best and we execute the way we know we can, we absolutely do believe this squad is good enough to give them a real good crack on Saturday.'
