Looking Ahead To Leinster

We give you the stats and get the thoughts of Donncha O’Callaghan as the countdown to Munster v Leinster at Thomond Park on St. Stephens Day continues.

Last weekend’s loss to Glasgow Warriors saw Munster swap places with the Scotsmen at the top of the table and sets up the clash of third versus fourth when Munster welcome Leinster to Limerick on Friday night.

Munster have slipped to three straight defeats in all tournaments in recent weeks but have not lost four in a row since the end of the 2009/10 season. However the Munstermen will face the toughest of days at the office in attempting to avoid the season ending fate of 2010.

Leinster's only defeat in their last nine fixtures in all competitions was 18-24 at Harlequins in the European Champions Cup on 7th December, while the men in blue will also be keen avenge their most recent defeat in the PRO12 – at home to Munster in the Aviva Stadium last October.

While a return to winning ways would see Munster achieve a season's league double over Leinster for the first time since 2008/09, Leinster know what it takes to achieve a result in Limerick having won on four of their last seven visits to Munster.

A tough game to call as always, Munster second row Donncha O’Callaghan looks ahead to Friday evening, one of the marquee fixtures in the Munster Rugby calendar.

“It’s one of those special matches. With the time of the year, some people might say the poor players having to play over Christmas, but I think it’s great – full house in Thomond, fellas with their friends and family around them, people coming home for Christmas and heading to the game – it will be electric.

“It’s part of why Munster is special, playing in front of the crowd you love with people you care about and the performance has got to reflect that. I think we’ve played in fits and spurts recently but we haven’t put together an 80 minute performance for a while and that’s what we need to do, because if you don’t, with the quality Leinster have, you’d be in for a long day at the office.

“Frustrating is the best way to put our recent performances. When you are winning you bounce along and moods are higher in the camp. It’s been a tough few weeks, but we are lucky at the same time, we have a good honest dressing room and we’re lucky in the coaches we have. The coaching team are excellent in setting out what we need to do to achieve results and that’s where it comes down to the players taking ownership – we’re at the point where we need to take ownership that bit more.”

Munster may have taken the bragging rights last time out, but if anything that’s even more reason to be wary of Leinster according to O’Callaghan.

“I’d agree we put in a great performance that day, but I think if you chatted to the Leinster lads after the game they’d feel they underperformed and that will be a massive driver for them.

“We know that they’ll be a lot better than they were in Dublin so we’ll have to bring our own game to a higher standard. Right now we need to get the processes right to produce a winning performance, and by that I mean a full 80 minute performance. We haven’t done that in recent weeks, we’ve played well in parts but the let ourselves down in others.

“Even after three losses you always want to play against the best on show, and they are that. Interprovincial rivalry is always a big thing no matter the sport, rugby, hurling, football or soccer. It’s a massive opportunity to put in a performance and hopefully we can do just that.”

Munster V Leinster, Guinness PRO12 Round 11, Friday December 26th at Thomond Park – KO 5pm.

The last remaining tickets can be purchased online here, at stadium on matchday (if not already sold out) or by calling Ticketmaster on 0818 719 300.

This game will be televised live on TG4.