“The fans are incredible” | Jack O’Donoghue speaks ahead of Munster’s Lions meeting

The Waterford native also spoke on the boost his side have received with players returning from international duty.

Munster’s Jack O’Donoghue has said that his side are “going to need to be really aligned” as they prepare to take on the Emirates Lions in the URC this Saturday.

Graham Rowntree’s men picked up a bonus-point victory over Vodacom Bulls last weekend, and will be looking to make it two wins from two in South Africa this time out.

Much haș been made of the high altitude levels that both of these South African games are being played at, and O’Donoghue admitted that “it is incredibly tough” playing in such conditions.

“I think I was just itching for gametime, been sidelined for a couple of months so for me I was just itching to get back out there and to put a performance together and threw myself into as many battles as I could. The lungs were feeling it! It is incredibly tough to play at altitude, you certainly feel it even just coming back down here to Capetown, doing the same drills in training you don’t feel your lungs as much so it’s going to be another challenge.”

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The Waterford native also spoke on the boost his side have received with players returning from international duty.

Peter O’Mahony, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley, Conor Murray and Calvin Nash were all involved in Ireland’s recent Six Nations success, and O’Donoghue says “they bring a lot of calmness to the group”.

The 30-year-old also assessed the threat the face from the Lions this weekend, saying that his team will “have to be really aligned going after them”.

“It’s incredible coming off the back of a Six Nations championship, they bring a lot of calmness to the group, you’re taking the field there with three lads who have unbelievable experience in big games. We found ourselves under our posts twice early on in the second half, but it didn’t phase us one bit, no one was worried. We spoke, we had a calm chat and we were able to get onto our next job and our next task.”

“They play a bit looser, looking at the Leinster game they scored nearly all their tries off turnovers. Their snap attack is something that’s going to be a real threat, we’re going to have be really aligned going after them, not just on our own. We want to be getting set, getting off the line and meeting them for confrontation like we did against Bulls last weekend.”

O’Donoghue was quick to heap praise on the travelling Munster supporters, who took on the massive journey to South Africa.

A sea of red jerseys sang their hearts out to Zombie last weekend, something that O’Donoghue described as “incredible”.

“The fans are incredible, seeing all the red jerseys on the far side of the field, trying to make themselves heard when Zombie came on the speakers, it was incredible to have. It just shows the dedication that our supporters have, they followed us all the way down to South Africa multiple times last year, it is a massive honour for us and we always want to make them proud at the end of the day, and to be able to go over and give them a round of applause at the end of the game was a nice touch.”

Munster’s game against the Emirates Lions will be shown live on TG4 this Saturday from 3:30pm.