Mike Prendergast and Diarmuid Barron hoping for “consistency” as Munster host Connacht in URC

The red province will be keen to continue in the vein that saw them defeat South Africa Select a fortnight ago.

Munster return to URC action this Saturday as they welcome Connacht to Thomond Park in round eight of the competition.

Graham Rowntree’s side are looking to get their season back on track this Saturday against their interpro rivals following their historic victory over South Africa in Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Before that triumph over the Springboks they had only two wins from seven domestic matches, their last against the Bulls which they followed up with losses against Ulster and Leinster.

Munster have been forced to use players from their academy in recent months due to the injury situation at the club with players such as RG Snyman, Keith Earls and Andrew Conway all unavailable.

This has seen them having to try different combinations which attack coach Mike Prendagast is starting to see come good.

“Over the last I suppose kind of two months with you know we’ve used was it 55 players up to the South African game and it’s just getting those combinations and fortunately now we can see that starting to come true a small bit in terms of you know players working with each other in certain positions.

 “It gave good exposure I suppose to some other younger players and that’s probably in the long term will stand to us as well and I suppose give us a few headaches going forward as well because a lot of those young players have performed well.”

Munsters poor recent form has come down to a lack of consistency since the new season has begun. 

This is in part due to the injury situation and now that different combinations are starting to gel, Prendergast is hoping they can build momentum and start to find consistency for the coming games.

“Since the Bulls game there has been a bit more consistency around our game. There still needs to be a lot more, I think that will come as we go along in terms of as I spoke about getting the combinations together.

“We’re in a, I suppose a decent enough place in terms of coming off our last game in terms of performance against South Africa but we know it’s a one-off game and all that matters now is what happens next Saturday against Connacht, against a good Connacht side that won three out of the last four games.”

Hooker Diarmuid Barron had similar things to say about their recent games mentioning the fine performances from a team missing key players and how they could take positives from the last few contests.

“Obviously we had a couple of close defeats to Leinster and Ulster but we had encouraging performances.”

Barron was also full of praise about the South Africa game where he himself scored a try off a rolling maul against a strong pack.

He believes that this win will help the squad get behind what they’re trying to achieve in training.

“We can take confidence first of all in what we’re doing and what we’re trying to accomplish and then we can take solace in the fact that we’ve gone toe to toe with a big pack and physically done very well.”

As coach Prendergast mentioned earlier Munster have struggled to find consistency in recent months, but Barron believes the Pairc Ui Chaoimh win will help the squad build momentum after a shaky start to the campaign.

“It’s very exciting. in terms of momentum. It’s something that we haven’t really been lucky enough to create for ourselves this year so far and you know you got to take it when it comes your way and and try to build momentum in the best way we can.”

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Munster host Connacht on Saturday November 26th in Thomond Park at 7.35pm in the eighth round of the URC.