‘You’re never as good as they say ... and you’re never as bad …’ – Denis Leamy on Munster’s ‘roller coaster’ run

Back-to-back bonus-point wins in South Africa have put Munster right back in the hunt for a top-two spot in the URC as Graham Rowntree’s side hope for a slip-up from Glasgow or Leinster.

Confidence must be high then, having bounced back in style from the disappointment of being knocked out of the Champions Cup by Northampton.

“You’re never as good as they say you are and you’re never as bad as they say you are. That would be my mentality anyway,” defence coach Denis Leamy said, echoing the adage so often used by his former team-mate Anthony Foley.

“It’s really important, you’ve just got to keep an even track, and certainly, we’ve had a bit of a roller coaster.”

There is never a dull moment in Munster, but after managing a tricky campaign hampered significantly by injuries to key players, their last two impressive wins over the Bulls and the Lions were a reminder of how good they are when playing with a stronger hand.

“There’s an old saying, ‘Good players make good coaches’, you know, it helps with a lot of your experience back, there’s no doubt about that,” Leamy continued.

“Over the course of the season, you’re going to run into sticky patches, especially with some of the injuries that we got.

“At times, you just have to get on with it, it’s not ideal. But when we have players like RG Snyman coming back, Oli Jager, these guys are internationals, they’re powerful, they’ve got great ability in terms of being rugby players but also the experience of how to win in difficult places. So, it definitely helps. Hugely.”

This week’s hefty injury bulletin from Connacht was akin to what Munster have faced so often. However, despite the Westerners travelling to Limerick shorn of key players such as Mack Hansen, Cian Prendergast, Denis Buckley and JJ Hanrahan, Leamy expects another tough test.

“You can’t shy away from the fact you want to win every game,” he added.

“The reality is that’s always going to be difficult. You’re playing against very good sides. But, absolutely, winning the next three games, if we’re good enough to do that and that’s good enough to get us a top two, well absolutely brilliant, that would be fantastic.

“But this game is a big, big game in itself. There’s a huge amount on the line. Connacht are pushing hard for top eight. They are a really good side, who are definitely a top-eight side. And, obviously, ourselves. We want to back up what we’ve done in the last couple of weeks.

“Any time we play Connacht, you’ve got to understand the derby nature of it, the physical confrontation. I think Connacht genuinely feel that any time they play Munster, they can beat Munster. Certainly, we feel the same when we play them, but there’s nothing between the sides. The last six games, we’ve been 50/50 in terms of sharing the spoils, so that tells you a lot about it.”