Sights Set On Saracens

Check out the stats and get the thoughts of Head Coach Anthony Foley and captain Peter O’Mahony as Munster prepare to welcome Saracens to Thomond Park in Pool 1 of the European Champions Cup this Friday – KO 7:45pm.

Despite Munster winning four of the five matches between the clubs in Europe, little has separated the sides with Munster (112) scoring just 4 more points than Saracens (108) across those 5 games.

For Munster, CJ Stander, last weekend’s Man of the Match against Sale Sharks, became the only player to make over 100 metres in the competition to date, while for Saracens, Chris Ashton scored two tries against Clermont Auvergne pushing him up to 6^th in the all-time top try scorers in European rugby’s premier competition alongside Tommy Bowe and Geordan Murphy.

Most recently Munster and Saracens met in Pool 1 of the 2012/13 Heineken Cup and back then both sides won their respective home ties, with both teams also winning their respective opening games of the current campaign.

Munster’s narrow win over Sale Sharks last Saturday places them second on the Pool 1 table, one point and place behind table toppers Saracens who managed to secure a bonus point victory at home to Clermont Auvergne also on Saturday.

Many similarities can be drawn between these two teams, a sentiment echoed by Munster captain Peter O’Mahony earlier this week.

“They’ve been very impressive. There’s a bit of “old Munster” about them. They’ve been knocking on the door of Europe for the last few years, and we know they are hungry for success. That’s not to say that we won’t be hungry for success as well on Friday night. It’s a big game for us, and we will probably be going in as underdogs and as I said, we need to improve big time. They are a fairly complete side. They can attack from all areas, with dangerous players all over the place. If we carry on like we did for 30 minutes of the first half then I don’t think we’ll have much of a hope.”

Head Coach Anthony Foley also knows a big improvement is required on last weekend’s outing against Sale if Munster are to open their Champions Cup account at Thomond Park on a winning note.

“We’ve analysed the game and we were 5% below where we needed to be. We were actually below where we were against the Ospreys and we lost that game. In terms of analysis Sale was the first game we’ve won at that percentage.

“We know we need to get those percentages back and we know where it’s gonna come from. We need to use that ball better, we need to get into better positions and we need to restrict the opposition – we can’t allow opposition so much easy ball.”

Munster v Saracens, Champions Cup Pool 1, Friday October 24th at Thomond Park – KO 7:45pm.

Be there to show your support at Thomond Park. The last remaining tickets can be purchased from €;30 online here, at the Munster Rugby Ticket Offices in Thomond Park and Musgrave Park, or by calling 0818 719300.