Another European adventure has come to an end for Munster and with it the hopes of a European Final spot almost 20 years on from there win over Biarritz in Cardiff.

The team now is a far cry from that group and with the best will and intentions in the world this group is really struggling to put its stamp on games.

Losing like winning is a habit and Munster are really struggling to lay down any real marker and there their recent slump has seen them losing games from winning positions namely Stormers in the URC having been 21-6 up at half time and losing out in the 2^nd half another example was Castres in a must win game in the Champions Cup and again losing it from a winning position.

There are several off field problems that have come to light in recent weeks that have added to the trouble on the field and with the news of proposed volunteer redundancies in the near future, the pressure has ramped up on those in the playing group to try and secure Champions Cup rugby for next season and the financial benefits it will bring.

Clayton Mc Millian didn’t sign up for the mess behind the scenes but will have to truly earn his money over the last few weeks of the campaign as the 31-21 loss to Exeter knocked Munster out of the Challenge Cup and with it an outside shot at European redemption.

Even the opening block of league games outside of the Leinster victory in Croke Park, which on recent evidence has become an out liar in terms of performance. They are coming out on the wrong side of the ledger in many tight contests and as I stated at the start winning is a habit but losing can become a habit too.

This recovery is going to have to come from within and not just be “Stand Up and Fight” or “Boot, Bite and Bollock” and whatever catchphrase is used to describe what Munster will need from the final 4 league fixtures.

This last block has now become the biggest of the professional era from a Munster perspective and I don’t write those words lightly. Not qualifying for the Champions Cup will have dire consequences from a financial point of view and given the delicate balance that Munster has had to apply since the revamp of Thomond Park and the repaying of loans etc, you can see how crucial the last few games are.

The players have a short break now without Europe next week and then will face Benetton in Italy before Ulster in Limerick, then away to Connacht and lastly at home to the Emirates Lions in the last game of the regular season.

They have 4 games to rescue what has been a poor season. It isn’t going to be easy given what has gone on and what’s at stake but it is time for strong characters and even stronger performances.

I am going to speak from the heart as a Munster fan now and make no apologies for it, watching over the last few months has been very tough and has driven me to distraction but that is the way it goes being a fan or supporter, the ups and downs.

Being a Munster fan has never been easy given the amount of near misses and tough luck stories but again that all part of the fun I suppose. The hard edge and never say die attitude is still there but only sparingly over many years.

Heart and determination will only get you so far and although Munster have been knocking around the URC knock out rounds in recent seasons since winning the title in 2023, there has been an air of hope rather than real expectation of a knockout victory look at the tight win for Glasgow in 2024 in Limerick to see what I mean.

Thomond Park is not the fortress of times past but will have to come close to it in 2 of the last 4 games in the URC against Ulster and Emirates Lions.

 The players will of course have to up the performance levels as will the coaches. Time and again the set piece has let Munster down along with poor handling and first up tackling. The phrase “shooting yourself in the foot” is used frequently to describe a Munster showing in recent times.

The slate has to be wiped clean for the last few fixtures of the year and let whatever repercussions may occur let them happen in the summer but for now, Munster needs everyone to be pulling in the one direction to see can they pull another poor season away from the brink.

Time now for cool heads and minds with full focus on Benetton in Italy in 2 week’s time to see can Munster pull off the greatest rescue mission of the professional era…..

20 years are about to pass marking Munster’s 1^st Champions Cup win in May 2006, It is hard to think it’s 20 years but it is. Plenty of water has gone under the bridge since that day in Cardiff in 2006.

Unfortunately 4 men crucial to the success of that afternoon have passed away Conrad O Sullivan, Anthony Foley, Garrett Fitzgerald and Jerry Holland. All 4 men played there part in getting Munster to that big day in 06.

On Thursday week, this success after the many near misses will be celebrated in Cork. Let’s hope the current team will be preparing for a Challenge Cup Quarter Final that weekend. This celebration dinner will bring together the famed team and squad of 2006.

For this author who was at the Final in Cardiff as a fresh faced 16 year old, looking at the match programme, highlights of the game on YouTube and having a signed shirt of that squad in my home mark a truly special occasion for yours truly.

Having been in Twickenham in 2000 and watching Munster come so close then again in 2002 before the defeats of 03, 04 and 05 before the promised land was reached on that never forgotten day in 2006.

The never say die attitude of that side was a sight to behold in action. They were constantly up against it, having to beat Sale Sharks in the final round to make sure of a passage to the quarter finals. They did that with an emphatic win in Thomond Park  on one of those “you had to be there days”.

They faced Perpignan in the quarter final beating them in a tough week for the side as Conrad O Sullivan was buried in the weeks leading up to the game.

They then faced Leinster in Lansdowne Road in the 1^st European clash of the sides winning a tight semi-final contest with Trevor Halstead intercepting a pass in the 79^th minute to put the icing on the cake of that famous win over Leinster.

The final saw them take on Biarritz Olympique winning 23-19 with a crucial try coming from Peter Stringer alongside the opening score from Trevor Halstead with the rest of the points coming from the boot of current La Rochelle boss Ronan O Gara.

Here is the side that faced Biarritz that day in Cardiff :

15 Shaun Payne

14 Anthony Horgan

13 John Kelly

12 Trevor Halstead

11 Ian Dowling

10 Ronan O Gara

9 Peter Stringer

8 Anthony Foley

7 David Wallace

6 Denis Leamy

5 Paul O Connell

4 Donnacha O Callaghan

3 John Hayes

2 Jerry Flannery

1 Marcus Horan

–

16 Denis Forgarty

17 Federico Pucciariello

18 Mick O Driscoll

19 Alan Quinlan

20 Tomas O Leary

21 Jeremy Manning

22 Rob Henderson

Munster were soundly beaten on Saturday by the Sharks who by winning on Saturday won only their 5^th game of the season.

In those 13 games they have faced South African sides on multiply occasions. The Sharks dominated the set piece both scrum and line out and although a few calls at scrum time in particular could have gone either way, for the most part the Sharks were full value for the win.

Yet another campaign is threating to be derailed for Munster who will need a huge showing next Saturday in the 12pm kick off against the Bulls in Pretoria.

This season started with such promise where Munster won their opening 5 games and even though one or two of those results were very close on the score board it did look as though Munster had turned a corner but since the Argentina game back in November things have gone very stale.

They have slipped down the table in the URC and performances have gone by the wayside and it will need another trademark strong finish to the year to get into the last 8 of the URC not withstanding a very tricky away last 16 Challenge Cup game vs Exeter.

Clayton Mc Millian now knows what is required and yes he took the job on for 3 years but the level of performance has just fallen off a cliff edge in recent months. Yes the Sharks were far better in the set piece on Saturday but I didn’t see Munster trying to problem solve on the field and use the “smarts” we hear so often about.

Some of the handling and work at the line out was very abject and again begs the question what is happening on the training pitch. There was a delay in leaving Ireland but that happens on a daily basis and can’t be the sole reason for the showing.

Yet again, we see a Munster coach bemoaning a poor display and apologising to supporters and promising a better showing next time out, time for that crap to stop and get back to basics on the training pitch.

Some of the calling at the line out on Saturday was so poor that the Sharks could easily mark where the ball was going to end up and get there to sniff out any chance of a Munster attack.

Some bright sparks on the day when there was very little to make you think that Munster will be challenging at the end of the season for the 2 trophies they are still in contention for.

Sean Edogbo was a good addition and could see more game time before the end of the campaign, some of the work by John Hodnett at the breakdown at least gave Munster some small hope. The pressure that the Sharks exerted on Munster made it so difficult for Munster to gain any real momentum and when they had some possession they knocked balls on with regularity and that in turn stalled any momentum.

The recurring theme for Munster in recent years has been inconsistent performances and having to dig it out at the tail end of a campaign, this looks very certain to be the case again this year but Munster could possibly see themselves squeezed out of the top 8 and it will take a number of wins to help them secure a top 8 finish, starting on Saturday against the Bulls.

They will welcome back there Irish contingent for the game and that should help the level of performance also but it can’t just be down to those players to help lift the level of performance  needed for the rest of the year.

The backs are to the wall yet again for Munster and while the expectation will be they will rise to the challenge and find a way to get the wins needed to secure URC knock out rugby at the very least will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks.

First up it’s the Bulls on Saturday in Pretoria and then its Exeter away so the tough fixtures keep coming for Munster. Here is the 23 I would pick to face the Bulls –

15 Shane Daly

14 Calvin Nash

13 Dan Kelly

12 Alex Nankivell

11 Sean O Brien

10 Jack Crowley

9 Craig Casey

8 Gavin Coombes

7 John Hodnett

6 Sean Edogbo

5 Edwin Edgobo

4 Jean Kleyn

3 John Ryan

2 Lee Barron

1 Michael Milne

–

16 Niall Scannell

17 Jeremey Loughman

18 Micheal Alalatoa

19 Fineen Wycherley

20 Tom Ahern

21 Ethan Coughlan

22 JJ Hanrahan

23 Tom Farrell

Ireland go into the final day of the Championship with an outside shot a winning a 3^rd title under Andy Farrell and if you gave Farrell and his charges this news at full time in Paris they would have more than likely taken your hand off.

From a Scotland point of view they are in with a real chance of a first Championship since they won the last title of the 5 Nations era in 1999 after a terrific win over France in Murrayfield by 10 points 50-40.

Gregor Townsend knows his charges are in with a live chance and a first win in Dublin over Ireland since 2010 would aid that belief. There is a mental block for Scotland with Ireland since that afternoon in Croke Park, be it 6 Nations or 2 World Cup group games in the intervening 16 years.

They will need to overcome that and also deal with expectation from within Scotland through supporters and pundits who will most likely tell all who will listen that this is the golden chance they have waited for so even though it is a home game for Ireland all the pressure will be on the Scots and Ireland can just play their own game on Saturday.

Ireland have experience in these situations at International level where as Scotland will enter fresh territory with a live chance going into the last round for the 1^st time in a long time.

Gregor Townsend is the only one in the Scottish set up who knows what winning a 5/6 Nations title feels like, yes some of his charges have won titles at club level but this one is different and even though the chances of either Scotland or Ireland winning the Championship are slim due to the fact that France hold a 2 point lead and will be on home soil facing England still smarting from the manner of the loss in Edinburgh.

The 6 Nations has thrown up several big results this season and has its stand out finish on “Super Saturday” where all 3 games will be played back to back starting with Ireland v Scotland in Dublin then Wales vs Italy and then it’s off to Paris for France vs England in “Le Crunch” and unfortunately for a number of well-known pundits it won’t be a coronation evening for England but they can still be a fly in the ointment in the quest at stopping France from taking a second straight title.

Ireland will know they have plenty to work on this week in the build up and will be hell bent on finishing the campaign in the best possible way in front of a home crowd. The chances of a title may be slim but while the flame still flickers there is always hope of a 3^rd Championship in the reign of Andy Farrell.

Ireland’s set piece will face a stern examination from Scotland who may do something similar to Saturday vs France by bringing Zander Fagerson in late in the 1^st half after Darcy Rae has done his bit in the opening 40 minutes.

At the breakdown Ireland will also need to be up to speed and cleaver in when they go after the Scots at the breakdown. In defence they will need to work hard and close off the space on the outside and not allow Scotland the time to get there offloading game going which means in turn they will move Ireland’s forwards all over the pitch.

It might take a while for Saturday’s game to get going but once it does I think supporters and pundits alike could be in for a cracking game and similar to 2015, you have 3 sides in with a real chance and all 3 can score tries both France and Scotland probably finding scores easier to come by and Ireland may have to throw the shackles off in an attacking sense and just play what’s in front of them. Saturday promises to be a special day for 1 side with the other two wishing and wondering what may have been.

It is perfectly set up so now it is over to all 6 teams but in particular the 3 with title aspirations to go out and see how they get on. Enjoy it because very rarely does Rugby Union serve up an exciting finish…..