The Vodacom Bulls were put on notice by Irish side Munster, who are looking to inspire a backlash after the disappointment of their Investec Champions’ Cup exit against Bordeaux this past weekend.
While Munster must now turn their focus to the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, where they sit fifth, they need to beat the Bulls to keep ahead of a chasing pack where they are just three points ahead of ninth-placed Cardiff.
And while the Bulls also exited the Challenge Cup and have talked about “knockout rugby” over their next two games against Munster and defending champions Glasgow Warriors, they know Thomond Park is a place they have yet to win in the URC and they are likely to face a fired up Munster who will want to claim a scalp on their way to the playoffs.
Munster have some injury problems of their own, with Leinster releasing Academy players Michael Milne and Lee Barron to join them on loan for the rest of the season because of injury concerns. Both players could make their debuts against the Bulls this weekend, such is the depth of the injury worries they have.
Loosehead prop Milne and hooker Barron will have to face the best scrum in the competition after interim Munster head coach Ian Costello said that loosehead Jeremy Loughman was unlikely to be seen again this season with a hamstring injury.
Munster are also likely to lose four more players as a result of their loss to Bordeaux, with hooker Diarmuid Barron down with a shoulder/arm injury, loose forward John Hodnett with a toe injury, No 8 Gavin Coombes and winger Calvin Nash both have ankle injuries.
“We don’t think any of them are long term, which is good news. I’m just out of the medical meeting now, but it's probably unlikely the four of them will make it this week,” Costello told the Irish times.
Costello showed a real turn of anger in describing the disappointment of the loss to Bordeaux, who are the top ranked team in the Champions’ Cup. The coach said he expected a response against the Bulls this weekend.
“We underperformed and that’s what’s the hardest to take. Because regret is hard to live with. And for the last 48 hours, people have had to process a huge amount of disappointment.
“People here are really pissed off with that performance, excuse my language, because it means so much to us. And also because we know that we should have performed a lot better. Our turnover count was in the twenties. We lost nine lineouts. Just cut that in half. Cut that in half and I think we’re competitive toe to toe with them. I really do.
“And that’s what probably the last 20 minutes of the game showed us. And probably the first five minutes where we missed a very easy opportunity. And that’s not being falsely positive or trying to be, you know, fluffy around it.
“We’ve dealt with this honestly, openly. It’s not good enough. We should have performed better. We didn’t when it mattered. But we genuinely feel if we’d been more active around the lineout, more active around our handling, and we conceded two first-phase tries off scrums as well.
"Even just cut that in half and we think we’re right there with Bordeaux. It’s hard to argue that now because that’s not what happened. That’s genuinely what we feel.
“And the important part of that is we’ve absolute belief in where we’re going. And the last month is evidence of that. We’ve put in some big performances.
“And that’s what has been the chat today. Own it, learn from it and move on from it because if we lose at the weekend to the Bulls then we are in a dogfight to make the playoffs.”
Munster will name their side for the clash on Friday.