Holland: ‘There’s A Huge Amount To Play For’

Captaining Munster to victory in Italy last weekend, Billy Holland credited AIL experience and ingenuity in overcoming Treviso in less than favourable playing conditions. The second row also underlined the importance of a home result this weekend.

Following losses to Ospreys and reigning champions Glasgow Warriors, Munster re-joined the league’s top-six with a tough 13-16 win over a resilient Treviso side who themselves are closing in on Zebre in the race for next season’s Italian Champions Cup spot.
 
After high winds and persistent heavy rain took its toll on proceedings in the Stadio Monigo, Holland likened the experienced to those of his club playing days.
 
“The conditions were really difficult. As I said to a few of the lads afterwards, it was like playing a club game in ‘The Killing Fields’ (Clifford Park). There’s a lot of us who have played club rugby and have played in difficult conditions in Munster Cup matches and AIL matches over the years. It was one of those games where sometimes you’re better off without the ball. When we had the ball we used it really well, we had 100% win in our lineout, our scrum was quite good so we did the basics really well. It was tough going playing against a team in Treviso who are in a dogfight for Europe next year with Zebre and they’re four or five points behind so it was a really tough game. We said going into it we’d be happy with a 3-0 win, we won by three points in the end and got two good tries so we’re very happy with that.”
 
With such a tight race at the top, all teams’ respective fortunes could change significantly in the coming rounds.  Munster lie within four points of fourth placed Ulster and have a game in hand over three of the top-four sides, however such an advantage will only pay dividends if Holland and his teammates maintain winning ways in the weeks and months ahead.
 
“Leinster and Connacht are a nice bit ahead but from third to eighth there’s only a handful of points so there’s a huge amount to play for and we’re just focusing on ourselves, one game at a time.
 
“We want to get top four and want to go one better than we did last year and to do that we have to treat these games as cup finals. We did last weekend and won by three points and this weekend against Dragons is all we’re focused on now. We’re going back to Thomond Park where we haven’t had a good record this season. Our record away from home has been better than our home record and that’s not good enough.
 
“This is a cup final from our point of view, we need to win this weekend, we need to do whatever it takes to win. It’s going to be a really tough game. They beat us over there earlier in the season, they beat us up physically and won on the scoreboard so it’s a big challenge for us this weekend.”
 
Munster v Newport-Gwent Dragons, Guinness PRO12 Round 17, Saturday March 5^th at Thomond Park – KO 7.35pm.

Tickets from:

• Adult €;15
• Family €;30
• Junior €;7

Tickets can be purchased online here, from the Munster Rugby ticket Offices at Irish Independent Park and Thomond Park, or by calling 0818 719 300.