Denis Leamy has allayed fears about Jack Crowley’s fitness ahead of Saturday’s Champions Cup clash against Bath, now led by the province’s former head coach Johann van Graan after the Munster outhalf missed a rain-drenched training session on Monday.
The 25-year-old suffered a lower leg injury just seven seconds into last Saturday’s anticlimactic 26-21 URC loss to the Stormers at Thomond Park, when Paul de Villiers caught him on his follow through in attempting a charge down.
“We’re just assessing him, that’s ongoing,” said Munster defence coach Leamy. “He got a little bit of a bang early in the game, right at the start, so we’ll see how that one plays out.
“These things can happen when players are trying to get a block down. It’s one of those things, I don’t think there was anything in it really.”
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As to how optimistic he is that Crowley will be fully recovered by the weekend, Leamy added: “Very hopeful, we’re very hopeful.”
He confirmed Jack O’Donoghue has been ruled out after failing an HIA during the Stormers’ game, and that Michael Ala’alatoa – signed from Clermont Auvergne until the end of the season – might be in line for his first appearance for the province.
“Michael arrived today (Monday) and he’s trained with us there, so he’ll be in the selection debate.”
After winning their first five games under Clayton McMillan before the November international break, Munster head into the Champions Cup in familiar mode. With their momentum interrupted having let slip a 21-6 half-time lead last Saturday, they’re now underdogs against Bath, who won 36-29 away to Saracens last Sunday.
“We’d rather not have created that script from the weekend but that’s the reality and the game we’re in,” admitted Leamy.
“It’s a well-written script from previous years. It’s a tough one. It’s always difficult going to England first time out. And obviously Bath, they’re champions of England, and they look a really, really good side. That’s happened to us a lot over the years where we have to go and play the English champions.
“It’s a massive task, they look very strong in all aspects. They have a very, very good pack. They look to have a very good scrum, very good fundamentals around their maul, around their lineout play. And then they’ve got the quality of players like (Finn) Russell, (Ollie) Lawrence, (Henry) Arundell and (Tom) de Glanville. So, they have plenty of quality.
“But some things never change, and a lot of the focus will be on us. It’ll be on what we can do well, what we can control. For example, some of the discipline the other night in releasing pressure valves on the Stormers, just those avoidables and those controllables will be key.”
Leamy said Munster played some “great rugby” against the Stormers, hailing their set piece, defence and territory game for getting them into “a great position” before “losing our way a little bit”.
However, he conceded they also left chances behind and their set piece later came under pressure, their scrum especially struggling after John Dobson replaced six of his Stormers pack (including the entire tight five) within five minutes of the restart.
This is no less pertinent coming up against Bath, given they have Thomas du Toit, one of the world’s best tightheads who started for the Springboks in their recent win over Ireland.
“It’s a big challenge isn’t it, dealing with these big packs in general,” said Leamy. “We just felt that we were beaten to the punch a lot and that once they got their way through, we were in a very difficult position.
“The feeling among our forward unit is that we can be better. I take them at their word that there are controllables there and things that we can do better. Beating them to the punch a little bit more and transferring our weight and just staying in the fight for the duration.
“That’s definitely the challenge that we’ve set ourselves and it’s just a feeling that we can and we will be better around that.”
Another challenge for Leamy is coping with Finn Russell, especially if Bath generate quick go-forward ball.
“He’s consistently a dangerous player. In fairness to him, he’s had a brilliant career and over the last couple of years he’s probably become even better than he’s ever been,” he said.
Leamy also noted Russell’s “ability to hurt you with his kicking game” in addition to his passing and offloading skills.
“He’s a real handful for us and he’s a name that will be mentioned on more than a few occasions over the next couple of days in how we shut him down.”
