Defence coach Denis Leamy believes that Munster have that priceless sporting gift of momentum on their side as they prepare for Saturday’s Champions Cup encounter against Northampton at Thomond Park (kick-off 3.15pm, live on RTÉ 2 and BT Sport).
Munster are looking to complete the double over the English side after their 17-6 win at Franklin’s Gardens got their European campaign back on track following the opening defeat to French giants Toulouse at Thomond Park.
“I think we’ve been very good, not blowing us up, but the boys have been very good over the last six weeks,” Leamy said. “We’re starting to get consistently good at what we want.
“There was a lot of change, and that’s difficult as a player, to change a lot, and it’s taken time to become comfortable and get that detail and those micro details right, and adding the pace and execution to it.
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“I think since the Bulls game [a 31-17 home win on October 15th], we’ve seen a lot of week-on-week improvement. We lost to Leinster [20-19 on St Stephen’s Day], I’d like to think we were very close that night, and a bit of wizardry from Dan Sheehan on two tap penalties. We did an awful lot of things right that night.
“Northampton, Ulster, two very strong performances, so we’re getting there. A big challenge again at the weekend, and we have to be right.
“A European Cup game, an English team coming to Thomond Park, hopefully we’ll have a full house. We need all the fans to get out and get as many of them as we can, we really respect their support for us, and appreciate it.”
Injuries have impacted heavily in the front five of Munster’s pack, and the secondrow in particular, though forwards coach Andi Kyriacou will have been relieved to have his lineout options improved by the returns of international duo Tadhg Beirne and flanker Peter O’Mahony. The only live issues affect the frontrow with both hooker Diarmuid Barron and loosehead prop Josh Wycherley carrying shoulder and rib injuries respectively following Friday’s 33-3 win over the Lions.
“Both lads trained today with white bibs on and they came through the session,” Leamy said, “but we’ll see later in the week in terms of finalising that for definite. They’re still being monitored and we’ll check them again tomorrow morning and get feedback from the medical staff.
“Both guys are still in contention but we’ll be monitoring them going deep into the week.”
Leamy confirmed that rumours of the arrival of South African World Cup-winning hooker Malcolm Marx were wide of the mark while admitting his admiration for the 28-year-old star.
“I’d like to work with Malcolm Marx, but there’s nothing in it,” he said. “There’s nothing there for us. No, that’s not something that’s happening, to be as clear about that as I can. Look, obviously we look in different areas of the market but that’s not a conversation that’s ongoing.”
