{"id":189253,"date":"2025-12-13T06:21:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T06:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/189253\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T06:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T06:21:12","slug":"munster-will-be-hurting-but-their-champions-cup-can-still-be-saved-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/189253\/","title":{"rendered":"Munster will be hurting, but their Champions Cup can still be saved \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wasn\u2019t a great weekend for Munster<\/a> at The Rec. I think the first 20 minutes did all the damage. That\u2019s probably there for all to see. Is their Champions Cup<\/a> salvageable? Yes. One hundred per cent it is. When the first round doesn\u2019t go to plan, it can act as a good reminder. <\/p>\n

I hesitate to say it\u2019s a wake-up call because I thought Munster had been going well in their season until that point. <\/p>\n

For Bath, it was about those first 20 minutes<\/a>, the way everything stuck for them. Even the Bath players afterwards were talking about everything going right. <\/p>\n

Things went so well for them in that early period, and they played the conditions superbly through the halfback pairing of Ben Spencer and outhalf Finn Russell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Munster didn\u2019t die. I was listening to Simon Zebo\u2019s<\/a> commentary, and the other guys in the team were saying that it was a done deal. <\/p>\n

But Zebo, who obviously knows Munster, made the point that it is not over yet and that things could change if they got a quick score. And they did. They got two tries in the first half to come back through Edwin Odogbo about midway through and Craig Casey<\/a> at the end. But then they just stalled. <\/p>\n

After that, they showed fight. Tried to get back into it. But then they ran out of time. But that fight and that recovery is an aspect of their performance that is being overlooked.<\/p>\n

\"Munster'sMunster’s Tom Farrell reacts after a missed opportunity against Bath. Photograph: Tom Maher\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Sure, Munster will be hurting but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a fair reflection of where they\u2019re at. They had gone five wins from five in the URC only losing to the Stormers last week. <\/p>\n

It was an unfortunate start for a big game.They\u2019ll be kicking themselves this week, but what better venue to get things back on track than P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh. <\/p>\n

With a big crowd guaranteed, the P\u00e1irc will be a factor against Gloucester. In Munster so many of the lads grew up entrenched in GAA tradition. It means an awful lot to people. I never played in the P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh games, but the lads loved them, loved the buzz, loved having the opportunity to play in a special ground like that. <\/p>\n

My only experience of playing rugby in a GAA ground was when we lost against Leinster in Croke Park last year and that\u2019s what I can relate it to. When I was younger, I went to loads of All Ireland games there. So, to set foot on that turf … the atmosphere is different. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a novelty and I knew all my GAA friends would be watching that match. They might not have watched all my games, but they would have watched that one! I know that it\u2019s a cliche but it was an honour to play there. <\/p>\n

With that comes a nervousness that you want to perform and that can be a driver for players. You want to make those rare games in these stadiums memorable with your performance. <\/p>\n

\"Munster’sMunster\u2019s Shane Daly and Alex Kendellen after the loss to Bath. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

There are Cork guys in that Munster team, but even for the guys from abroad, the likes of Alex Nankivell from New Zealand and Thaakir Abrahams, who is South African, the boys will be telling them all about who played there and what it means. When they run out at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Chaoimh<\/a> they will have a true understanding of the occasion. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a really well-timed fixture for Munster. This year, the reality again is that it is not that hard to qualify for the knockout phase of the competition because of the format, with 16 clubs qualifying from 24.<\/p>\n

Ulster made it out of the pool stages last season winning just one match from four \u2013 and that came against an understrength Exeter. <\/p>\n

People have argued that it is too easy. In the group stages, with the way it is currently structured you lose the home and away aspect. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I loved. The double header element and the buzz of that, especially around Christmas time. There\u2019s history in the mix. There\u2019s drama. <\/p>\n

You go away to somewhere like Gloucester and you lose, but get a bonus point. As soon as that game ends you already understand that you have got another chance at them. You know they must come back to Thomond Park. You know the pendulum can swing and it nearly always does.<\/p>\n

\"MunsterMunster showed fight in their loss to Bath last weekend. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

It also inflates the dimensions of the game, especially with the huge rivalries between English and Irish teams. That bonus point you may have salvaged means everything. You know you have a chance to flip the tables on them. <\/p>\n

Four teams in a group and you see each other twice. You go over to their place, they come to your place. There are storylines everywhere.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Munster fired up to atone for \u2018bordering on embarrassing\u2019 Bath defeatOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

But there are pros and cons to the format. I understand that people get more out of the knockout matches and the Round of 16. You are creating an extra knock-out match for people at home who will be more likely to go and watch the game. <\/p>\n

Straight away there\u2019s more jeopardy. But while some of these matches offer proper spectacles, the flipside is that last year Leinster beat Harlequins 62-0 in Croke Park and Toulon beat Saracens 72-42 in France.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, some of the games were one sided and non-events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t a great weekend for Munster at The Rec. I think the first 20 minutes did all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[32728,13919,61,60,11897,101954,3654,101955,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-189253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-champions-cup","9":"tag-conor-murray","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-munster-rugby","13":"tag-pairc-ui-chaoimh","14":"tag-rugby","15":"tag-simon-zebo","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}