Grudge match talk pre-empts Munster v Glasgow

It may not quite be a grudge match, but it is clear that there is no love lost between Vodacom United Rugby Championship defending champs Munster and their semifinal opponents on Saturday in Glasgow Warriors.

The battles between the two sides in the past have been fierce and intense, and there is more than a little needle going into the game, although Graham Rowntree tried to downplay the rivalry ahead of the Limerick match.

The rivalry was highlighted again by a BBC interview over the weekend where former Scotland prop Peter Wright made it clear there was no love lost between the two sides.

“It will be good to go there and beat them in their own backyard and I think they can do that. What better way to get to a final,” said Wright. “You want to get a little bit of revenge, but that’ll take care of itself because they hate us – Glasgow and Munster hate each other massively. That’s gone on for years.”

Rowntree, however, refused to be drawn into the obvious mind games ahead of the clash, preferring to treat it as just another big game.

“I’ve seen that. I’ve tasted it. I’ve tasted it myself,” he says. “You know it’s knock-out rugby, it’s another huge game for us at Thomond Park. We know the support and the pressure that brings. Luckily what we learned last year of our composure and playoff rugby, we’ll treat it as the next big game. What we can do to influence that and what we got to be good at to stop them influencing the game on us, that’s it.

“It’s just a huge game for us. It’s what you play rugby for, isn’t it? Pressure moments, high-stake games, the physical battles, it’s huge, and it’s exciting.”

FULL PACKAGE

Rowntree has a marked respect for South African-born coach Franco Smith, who has transformed Glasgow since his arrival. The Scottish side has one of the best mauls in the business, while also boasting the tournament’s top try scorer.

“They’ve got the full package,” says Rowntree. “They can play, they’re dangerous on the edge of the field, they kick a lot less than most teams. They have a dangerous breakdown, and they come here with – reading between the lines – quite a gnarly attitude, similar to us on the road last year. We spoke about that mindset this week. That’s what we’re waiting for.”

It is no surprise that Rowntree remembers the match against the Warriors in March 2023 as the turning point for Munster that kickstarted their run to the win in the final in Cape Town. Glasgow had a superb first half that left Munster reeling.

"28-0 at halftime, wasn't it? I'll never forget that dressing room," Rowntree remembers, and the effect it had on the team’s fortunes to turn it around after that.

"The term I've used widely, it gave us a punch in the nose.

"Certainly, defensively, we changed some key elements of our game and how we were training which stood to us. I say stood to us, we went to Durban and got beat by the Sharks the week after, but I look back at what we learned, and it has stood to us since then," he added.

Rowntree’s side beat Glasgow in last season’s quarterfinal and then again in the league game this season when the two sides met in Cork. In that game Glasgow scored no less than five maul tries, proving to be Munster’s kryptonite and while they won, Rowntree is certain they will use the same tactics again.

"They certainly still have that weapon. The tries they've scored in the URC from the set-piece pay testament to that.

"That game in Cork was the first of December, we conceded more than we should have, and it made us have a change of philosophy in how we were defending mauls.”

While Munster haven’t been as fluid this year, they still find a way to win games, something that has pleased Rowntree, who also concedes that his team will need to improve if they are to make the final.

“Our last three games, going back to the Edinburgh game as well, changed in different ways,” he explained.

“Different circumstances around the breakdown...I think the last five metres of our game, five metres before their try line, we got to be better there. We got a bit frustrated there in the last quarter against Ospreys last week, so we’ve had a good look at that, what we’re doing there because it’s a usual strength of ours.

“I’d say the game now is not getting frustrated by lack of scoring tries, stay in the moment, take shots at goal if you can, to relieve pressure because it is knock-out rugby. We know we haven’t been the finished article but we have found a way to win difficult games. Not being the finished article, we’ve found a way to keep our composure.”

And that may be the difference between the sides this weekend. And whether Munster have it in them to repeat their epic URC tournament victory of last season.