WATCH | “We focus on the game in front of us” | Larkham not looking back as trip to Sandy Lane in Champions Cup awaits Munster

Munster have been preparing for the Champions Cup round of sixteen against Exeter Chiefs this Sunday

Munster have their eyes on a Champions Cup glory as they look to get a foot in the door for the quarter-finals as they try to negotiate the challenge of the Exeter Chiefs, starting in Sandy Park with the first leg of their Last-16 clash on Saturday.

Exeter won the Champions Cup in 2020 so this will be a tall order for the Munster squad who are bolstered again with their internationals returning to duty.

Munster won four out of four in the Pool stages with home and away victories over Wasps and Castres Olympique respectively. Exeter recorded two big home wins over Montpellier and Glasgow Warriors but were beaten in both away fixtures.

The sides met in a pre-season friendly at Sandy Park last September with Munster edging an entertaining encounter to win 31-19.

The sides met twice in the 2018/’19 Champions Cup where they played out a draw in this weekend’s venue.

Munster are coming into the game off the back of a sore defeat to Leinster as they were beaten all ends up by their interprovincial rivals.

Yet, despite the result, Munster coach Stephen Larkham insists that nothing will change in their preparations for Exteter as they try to rectify those wrongs from Thomond Park.

“You know Leinster Munster game, particularly for us, the one that’s home, normally on Boxing Day we had it postponed to the weekend, that’s traditionally our biggest game of the year in terms of rivalry and intensity.

“They’re a good outfit they played exceptionally well at the weekend we prepped really well last week, we were treating it like a full dress rehearsal for finals and they got the better of us in the game but nothing is going to change for us in terms of that preparation. We’ve got the same preparation this week in terms of the way we wanna play this weekend.”

Larkham is also under no illusion that facing Exeter back-to-back will be no easy task:

“At this stage we’re treating both games like every other game, we focus on the game that’s in front of us. We make sure that we’re putting out our best team on the park to win the game in front of us.

We’re fully aware that it’s the home and away it’s the points aggregate that we’re after so we’ll go into the game this weekend trying to play our best game and then we’ll make an assessment after that.”

And for rugby neutrals, the Australian says this weekend’s game is one that could excite with both teams looking to play an expansive brand of rugby.

“They’ve got a very distinct style of play, look at the bath game at the weekend, they have the ability to hold the ball for multiple multiple phases. We’ve seen that over the years they’ve brought the game back to where it has been over the years in the last month.

“Probably a patchy season for them but they’re playing some really good rugby with ball in hand, they’re dangerous they certainly challenge opposition teams by holding the ball but in saying that they’ve also got a very good kicking game, good kick chase game, they’re a well rounded team.”

Watch the interview with Larkham in full below, as well as words from Peter O’Mahony.