Morgan Bolton
Look, we can arguably all agree that being surrounded by the aesthetically pleasing views of the Cape is an attractive prospect for any team travelling to the country, but the Lions will likely look on Munster returning there as the Irish team’s first mistake.
Munster, as their coach Graham Rowntree revealed after beating the Bulls this past weekend, returned to Cape Town to prepare for their coming United Rugby Championship (URC) match against the Lions. They will depart for Johannesburg on Friday, before playing the Joburgers at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 5pm).
As witnessed this past weekend, Munster will be a difficult beast to fell, so the Lions will need to exploit every advantage they can find. That includes the altitude, which had Munster remained on the Witwatersrand this week, would have been negated by matchday.
At 1 724m above sea level, Ellis Park is higher than Loftus with only 82% oxygen available when compared to the coast. After a highly physical encounter against the Bulls, it will also take a fully stocked Munster that bit longer to recover.
Munster, of course, did overcome Loftus with all its peculiarities in a hard-fought 27-22 victory, but will also return to face a Lions team that will be buoyed by a fantastic 44-12 triumph over Leinster and with the bit between the teeth as they push to qualify for the play-offs of the tournament.
Both teams, therefore, will have to put in a massive effort again to repeat their heroics when they meet at Ellis Park.
“It will take another incredible performance against a very good team who are on form,” Rowntree admitted after the Bulls encounter. “I was very impressed with the Lions – they beat Connacht away a matter of weeks ago in an exceptional performance.
“I have talked to a few guys locally about how they backed their youth and stuck with some young men. They are an exciting and dangerous team.”
As alluded to by Rowntree, the Lions have played some brilliant rugby – on occasion. Their best performance of the season was against Connacht, while the recent win over Leinster was first rate. In-between, however, they flailed about in a disappointing performance against the Ospreys and had a frustrating outing against Benetton.
This past Saturday, they made a fast start – which they would love to emulate again this weekend – but then reverted to a reactive stance as Leinster made all the plays, before finishing off the visitors in the last 10 minutes. A full 80-minute performance will certainly be required to defeat a peaking Munster, and will no doubt be one of the work-ons head coach Ivan van Rooyen and Co will attend to this week.