‘It’s Munster against the Premiership leaders. Written off’ – Denis Leamy gearing up for European clash

The emergence of footage of Rassie Erasmus playing coverage by the Irish media to his players before their World Cup pool clash with Ireland confirmed what’s long been suspected, the dressing-room wall has been replaced by the television screen – but there’s still mileage to be gained from a perceived slight.

No one harnesses perceived slights like Munster, who wore a chip on their shoulder as proudly as the club crest during their glory years.

Denis Leamy was there during that period and he has returned as a coach who has a gift for setting the tone for his team behind the scenes and in public.

Yesterday, he spoke to the players about being written off externally and then walked into the boardroom at the province’s high-performance centre and explained how he sees this Sunday’s trip to Northampton Saints.

“It’s Europe, it’s Munster in England against the Premiership leaders. Written off. It’s Munster,” he said quietly.

You wonder who has been writing Munster off considering most pundits wait until the end of the week before giving their predictions.

The bookies are calling it a six-point game in the hosts’ favour, so that’s perhaps where Leamy is getting his sense of ‘us against the world’.

“You sense it,” he said. “Not to overplay that, it’s important not to overplay that. That’s not what we’re about in terms of that siege mentality.

“But Northampton have earned the right to be favourites, they’ve earned the right to be spoken about the way they play the game.

“You look at the English internationals they have; Alex Mitchell will probably return and he’s a fantastic player for them, makes them tick. Look at a player like Fin Smith, he’s probably going to be a Lion or certainly an English player for a number of years. [Courtney] Lawes, [Louis] Ludlam, [Curtis] Langdon. They’re really, really good players.

“So it’s a big task and that’s why people will make them favourites and say Munster have a difficult job to do.

“We’ve got to fall back on our abilities.

“We’ve had the ability to go on the road.

“We’ve won in Glasgow, Dublin, Cape Town last year. We’ve gone to Toulon [and won]. We’re good enough to go to Northampton and put in a performance. If that’s good enough on the day, absolutely brilliant.”

They may have to do so without Calvin Nash’s presence on the wing, with the Ireland star struggling to recover from a leg issue.

RG Snyman, however, is on the mend after missing the stuttering win over Cardiff with a virus.

The Springbok is arguably the most important player to any team left in the competition and he’ll play a big role in driving things this week.

“He’s an outrageously gifted rugby player, isn’t he?” Leamy said.

“He’s experienced, he’s a double World Cup winner.

“When he speaks, guys listen, and he’s a very impressive person, a very impressive man and just his physicality and his ability on the ball really gives you something.

“He’s a very, very good player. So, fingers crossed he makes it through the next few days.

“He speaks exactly the right amount. He doesn’t over-speak, which is a skill in itself and he’s very good. He’s very measured and he knows the right time to interject and give his opinion, and when he does it’s always good stuff.”

As ever, Munster are trying to win the Champions Cup the hard way – and if they beat Northampton on Sunday they’ll likely be off to Pretoria to face the Bulls.

It’d be a good headache, and while contingencies are in place if they get it done, their focus is on this weekend against a team that beat them at Thomond Park with 14 men in January.

“We spoke about it not being about revenge. It’s about a performance,” Leamy said. “Our mindset. Our intent. Being direct. There’s no reason we can’t go there and put in a really, really good performance. The result will look after itself.”