Lions coach sings Munster’s praises: ‘One of the toughest teams in the URC’

Lions scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys believes Munster are one of the toughest teams in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and the hosts will have to front up physically if they want to beat the defending champs at Ellis Park on Saturday evening (kick-off 5pm).

The Lions are flying high after a thumping 44-12 win over a largely second-string Leinster last weekend, but will face a completely different challenge in a full strength Munster, who are also fired up after beating the Bulls at Loftus.

It was another win in South Africa for Munster, who have beaten the Stormers three times in the country, including in last year’s URC final, and they will be well acclimatised to the Highveld by game time having been up here over the past two weeks.

‘Tough team’

“Of the Irish teams, if you can use a word like “tough” for one of them, it’s them (Munster) and Connacht that are really tough teams,” said Redelinghuys.

“They’ve got that never-say-die attitude, and there’s a reason they won the URC last year. They played their quarterfinal, semifinal and final away, and they managed to find a way to win. It speaks a lot to their way of play and their attitude, just the fight they have in them.

“Their coaches drive that really hard, which you can see, and in our view, they are a really tough team. You can’t just think they’ll go lie down even though you’re ahead. Like against the Bulls, who started to get an upper hand, but Munster never quit or threw in the towel, and kept fighting hard.”

Top eight dreams

Redelinghuys admitted that the Lions had already put the Leinster win behind them and that their full focus was now on trying to get a win over Munster, which would keep their hopes of finishing in the URC top eight and qualifying for the playoffs alive.

The Lions are also expecting a completely different game plan from what they faced last weekend, with Munster well known for being a more forward driven team that likes to give the ball air, which the Lions will have to be prepared for.

“We’ve already shifted our focus from the Leinster game to Munster. They are the defending champions, they beat the Bulls and they’ve got a great squad. We’re under no illusions as to what they will bring this weekend,” said Redelinghuys.

“The receiving of our kicks, working back or to set ourselves up to counter, or sending the kicks back, that’s going to be a little bit different to what we experienced against Leinster.”