O’Driscoll’s Charges Prepare For B&I Cup

As Munster ‘A’ prepare to open their 2015/16 British & Irish Cup campaign away to London Scottish on Friday night (KO 7:45pm), we talk to Head Coach Mick O’Driscoll on what lies in store in Round 1 before Munster ‘A’ play their first home game at Kinsale RFC the following weekend.

Having suffered defeats to Worcester Warriors (since promoted to Aviva Premiership) and Doncaster Knights in last season’s tournament, O’Driscoll and his men know first-hand the physical prowess of English Championship sides and are expecting nothing less when they visit the English capital this weekend.

“They are a typical English Championship side with a very big pack who work a lot off their set piece and are very strong in the scrum and maul particularly. That will make it a big challenge for us this weekend especially as that’s and area where we struggled last season. They’ve won four from nine but have been unlucky on a couple of occasions and we know we’ll have a tough day at the office.

While keen to build on the experience of last season, this year will also see O’Driscoll and his management team field a number of emerging talents in the competition.

“Now we did have a particularly young side last year and we’ll have a bit more experience this time around. Last season we had guys playing in the competition for the first time and those players will be that bit more ready for it. In saying that we’ll also have a few young guys who won’t have played B&I Cup rugby yet and it will be great experience for them. At the end of the day it’s about us developing the next crop of players and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.

“We try and play a similar system to the Munster senior system and as we don’t have that much time together we keep the game plan pretty simple, but within that I like to see guys express themselves and play rugby rather than playing to a book. We get to see exactly what fellas are made of, especially when they face the guys who have played at that level for a number of years.”

For updates on this game follow @munsterrugby #BICup on Twitter.

Munster then return home for Round 2 and will play Yorkshire Carnegie in Kinsale RFC the following Friday at 8pm in a fixture that will also mark the switching on of the club’s new floodlights.

“It’s good to be able to play in clubs like Kinsale who like all the clubs across the province work extremely hard. As well as their own sides Kinsale run a successful 7s event every year and do a lot for rugby in both Cork and Munster so it’s important that clubs like that get recognised.
“Without question they will put on a good show and it’s great that we can be there for the switching on of their new lights, plus it’s great to get Munster out and about in the province.”

Munster ‘A’ v Yorkshire Carnegie, British & Irish Cup Round 2, Friday November 20^th at Kinsale RFC – KO 8pm.

Tickets:

• Adults €;10
• Family €;20 (2 adults & 2 juniors)
• Juniors €;3)

Tickets can be purchased online here, while entry is FREE for all MRSC members and Ten Year Ticket holders (on production of your membership card or ticket book).