Munster travel to Italy on Sunday to face Zebre in the Guinness Pro 14

Rory Scannell would have been disappointed to not be involved in Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad during the November International’s seeing as he earned his first cap in the summer tour of Japan and the U.S only a few months previous, however the Munster centre is now totally focused on the job in hand when his side return to Pro 14 action this weekend against the Italians, Zebre.

The squad had a two week break following their bonus point victory over the Dragons three weeks ago and returned to training last Wednesday in preparation for their next league game, with a number of young academy and uncapped players joining the squad session’s due to some International absentee’s with the likes of Conor Murray, Ian Keatley and Dave Kilcoyne all training with Schmidt’s squad.

Scannell says whilst they are inexperienced at this level, the younger lads are eager to show new head coach Johan Van Graan what they are capable of going into a very busy December schedule.

“Yeah there’s a fairly wide squad so far. We’re unsure of what the squad will be yet, we might get a few lads back from national camp so it probably wont be until later in the week we know that. There’s a few younger lads who have been training with us for the last few weeks and are going well so there could be a few lads making their first cap for Munster but I’m sure they’ll slot in nicely”

It’s not going to be an easy ride for anybody on Sunday, especially for a player making his first appearance, if that is the case, but most fans still feel a trip to either of the Italian sides is a given four points more often than not. However, you just have to ask the Southern Kings or Ulster supporters what happens when you underestimate a side in this years Pro 14 after their teams were defeated at the hands of the Parma based side.

Munster’s inside centre is under no illusions about fixture, and referred back to a couple of seasons ago when Munster themselves nearly came away with nothing.

“It’s a tough place to go. Our away form hasn’t been great this season, I think we’ve lost three of our away games so we’ll be wary of that. We had a close encounter over there two years ago I think we only won 16-12 in the end and we’d a pretty strong team out that day so. It will be a challenge no doubt but I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to it”

Since that close encounter two years ago, Zebre have not beaten Munster nor come as close as they did that day, but this season, under former Connacht coach and Munster player Michael Bradley’s guidance have come on leaps and bounds, pushing Richard Cockerill’s Edinburgh very close as well as a Cheetahs side that have beaten Leinster and Ospreys, scoring over forty points in bot games.

Speaking at Munster’s press briefing on Tuesday, Scannell praised the Irishman’s progress with the Italian’s, who looked as if they wouldn’t even be competing in the league this year before the Italian rugby union took them over.

“Yeah you can see it with all their stats this year. Michael Bradley’s gone in and they’ve a much more aggressive defence. They try and put your skill set under pressure. Their attack, they used to be very much a set piece team, they’re counter attack and their open play has been brilliant this season and I think they’ve more points in the league table now than they had at the end of last season so they’re a much improved side and you can definitely see that so far”

Sunday’s game will be officially Johan Van Graan’s first game in charge of the Province, however it will be more up to George Murray, Jerry Flannery and Felix Jones to implement the game plan and take care of the coaching side of things, seeing as the South African only joined up with the squad early this week.

Van Graan is highly thought of in a lot of South African rugby circles, having been involved with the Springboks for the last number of years, as well as winning two Super Rugby titles as lineout coach and technical analysts with the Bulls, coaching a pack with the likes of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha, which all makes for great reading for Munster fans.

“We met him this week and a briefly a few weeks ago when he was over. All I’ve heard about him has been good which Is great and he likes to get to know his players and to be honest by the sounds of it not a whole lot is going to change, we’re going to stick to our daily schedule and our game plan is going to be very similar, maybe a few tweaks here and there over the next few weeks. He’s a very experienced coach, he’s great knowledge of the game and we’ll be looking to improve as players and a team over the next two years.”

However, December will be a very telling month for the new coach with a number of Inter provincial ties in the league as well as back to back Champions cup fixtures against European rivals Leicester Tigers that are more than likely going to essentially dictate where Munster’s season will lie after January.