Denis Leamy discusses challenges in picking Munster squad with “a lot of guys playing really well”

Munster will be looking for successive wins against Northampton this Saturday in the Champions Cup.

The sight of the Northampton Saints jersey will bring with it some fond memories for Munster Coach Denis Leamy when the English side touchdown in Thomond Park for Saturday’s Champions Cup clash.

In 2011, with the clock ticking into the 78th minute, Munster had a scrum on the Northampton 10 metre line. The hosts trailed by a solitary point in their fortress with time quickly evaporating before them.

But, over five minutes and 41 phases later, the spotlight was firmly pointed on Ronan O’Gara as he wheeled in celebration as his drop at goal sailed over. Game over, Munster win.

Standing at a defacto scrum half was a certain Denis Leamy who tossed the final pass into the grateful arms of O’Gara who did the rest.

This Saturday, Leamy will have his influence felt in a different way as a key part of the Munster coaching ticket that is gathering momentum with each passing week. On Monday it was confirmed that former player Mossy Lawler would be in situ for the 2023/24 season but for now the attention is firmly fixed on the Saints as Leamy discussed the difficulty of picking a team for the occasion.

“There’s some really interesting debates happening in the mornings when we discuss teams.

“It’s very interesting to see the different coaches with different ideas. Like, I want a chop-tackler, the forwards coaches want a lineout option. Everyone’s fighting for their different type of player and it’s really interesting discussions.

“We have a lot of options, a lot of guys playing really well. The back row is very hotly contested, the centres, the back three, and it’s very exciting so we have a really difficult job to pick a team later this week. We’re trying to put out the best team that represents us for this weekend. Because you pick teams differently depending on the opposition you’re playing. So picking a team for Northampton is a real challenge.”

Whatever 23 are selected on the day, the coaches will be hopeful for more of the same with successive wins to start the new year as the province looked to have turned a corner after a tumultuous start.

Yet, twelve years on from that memorable encounter in the same venue, for Leamy, the share of spoils will be the main concern regardless of how it comes.

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