Munster travelling to Gloucester for a Heineken Cup tie is nothing new, but the run-up to this one is unique all the same.
A win for Munster in Kingsholm on Friday night will put quarter-final qualification directly in their grasp. A loss without a bonus point will write “do or die” all over next week’s sold out game against Exeter in even larger letters than it is right now. So performance is key, on the field and on the scoreboard. But you know this.
This is the time of the season where goodwill for all men goes out with the brown, shedding remains of the Christmas tree. January is a time for broken resolutions, binging on box sets until your eyeballs feel like puking and performing in the Heineken Cup. Encouraging performances are for the fuzzy, bygone age of before Christmas; now it’s time to get down to business. Winning is everything. I’ll take them ugly, I’ll take them handsome, but I’ll take them whatever way they’ll come them out.
This game in Kingsholm is a proving ground game for this group in this season. A loss doesn’t kill the pool for Munster but a win gives something much more important than the points, which are important enough as it is – belief.
Let’s have a look at the teams;
The Red Eye Report: Gloucester (A)
An “A” would be considered top class by Champions Cup standards, a “B” would be considered good by regular Champions Cup standard, a “C” would be considered decent by PRO14 level, a “D” would be considered below par by PRO14 standards and an “E” would be something I’d consider an exploitable weakness.
Set Piece
Offensive Scrummaging – B
Defensive Scrummaging – B
Attacking Lineout – A
Defensive Lineout – A
Offensive Maul – B
Defensive Maul – B
Open Play
Defensive Structure – B
Phase Play Power – B
Attacking Creativity – B
Structured Attack Off Set Piece – A
Structured Defence Off Set Piece – C
Overall Fitness – B
Kicking – C
Back Three Kick Positioning – C
Hit The Shed
Johann Van Graan mentioned during the week that Connacht would be excellent preparation for Gloucester. What did he mean by that? Well, a lot of Gloucester’s structure with the ball in hand is quite similar to how Connacht play, so defensively Munster will take a similar approach. The fitness of Danny Cipriani was expected in advance of this game so his inclusion for Gloucester won’t ruffle any feathers – he may well do it on the pitch, but his inclusion isn’t a surprise.
Gloucester, like Connacht, play a wide-bore, high tempo style of rugby that places a lot of emphasis on second layer plays. Some of this tendency is to mitigate their lack of big ball carriers outside Morgan up the middle of the field – they need this structure to build momentum into the wide channels to generate physical and angle mismatches – but the more I’ve watched them this season, I’ve seen their second layer plays as a way to bring the best out of Danny Cipriani and Billy Twelvetrees.
Danny Cipriani is a player we know all about – I covered him a fair bit last time around – and it’s fair to say that he adds a lot to Gloucester. When he plays well, they play well. The ongoing absence of Jaco Kriel and Jake Polledri from Gloucester’s backrow alongside Morgan is a bit of luck for Munster as once those guys get back, this Gloucester side will be a different beast entirely.
Mark Atkinson – 6’6″ tall and around 17 stone – will be the main power back for Gloucester playing at #12, but it would be a mistake to assume he’s a one-note bosher. Atkinson is a talented passer of the ball and is used as a pair of hands on some of Gloucester’s deeper second layer plays. His main role, though, is as a decoy/hit option off Cirpriani, so Gloucester’s flyhalf can skip balls deep to Twelvetrees or run a corner off the hole punched by Atkinson. Anything that gives Cipriani a bit of disrupted space to work with is dangerous and Atkinson can certainly do that.
A lot of Gloucester’s big openside plays will look like this, and they have a mobile front five that can play ball. Look at the release pass to Thorley (a very dangerous runner) from the tighthead prop at the end of this.
The space that movement created for Thorley is why this structure exists – to get their pace runners attacking space, even if they have to float balls out there to do it.
We’ll see Gloucester run this style of play in this midfield position to test out our back three positioning and look to catch Farrell laterally -ase Connacht did for the second try on Saturday – but they’ll be keen to attack back against the grain getting the likes of Grobler and Mostert onto the ball for their set up phases. They might not have any massive ball carriers but everyone in their pack is effective, Grobler and Mostert in particular outside Morgan.
All of Gloucester’s screenplay work is based on getting the ball right up to the gain line and swiping back with blockers disrupting the midfield’s shuttle across. Leicester handled this quite well last week;
Banahan, for all his size, was dealt with quite well once Gloucester moved this beyond and Munster will have to be careful not to give up easy “bite ins” on these plays, like we did in the second half against them back in October. Conway went to cut off the second layer but gave up the outside instead.
A more conservative approach will do the job for us here and Keith Earls is the man for the job in a similar position.
Unlike Connacht, Gloucester have gone for a very big pack for this one. Lewis Ludlow, nominally a blindside flanker, is at #7 to accommodate Mostert at #6 and, while this will make them a little more of a threat up the middle of the field, it will make them a little vulnerable to being attacked on first phase off the set piece at the breakdown – their pace from set piece to first ruck is questionable – and they will vulnerable to being picked off in defence.
Their size means we can attack Gloucester’s breakdown in the same kind of position that we managed against Connacht when Gloucester look to release the ball into the second layer and go wide to come back across the pitch. I’d expect O’Mahony and Beirne to have prominent games at the defensive breakdown in the wide areas and on disjointed centre-field carries that come back inside off wide rucks.
Biggest Change
The biggest area of growth for Gloucester since the last time we played them has been their defensive lineout and that is almost entirely down to the addition of Franco Mostert.
Mostert is as good a counter-jumper as there is in the game – up there with Peter O’Mahony, in fact – and his inclusion for Gloucester alongside Gerbrandt Grobler and Ed Slater is a sign that Gloucester have done their homework.
The biggest factor in Castres victory over Munster was the pressure that their two counter-launch pods put on our throws in the middle of the field. Castres, through Caballero, Jacquet, Babillot and Lassalle, were able to consistently pressure Munster’s throw and force difficult schemes and throwing combinations that upset our ability to make the French champions pay after conceding penalties.
Mostert, along with Grobler and Slater, will allow Gloucester to attempt to do the same here.
Mostert patrols two areas primarily.
His first right at the front of the lineout, where he uses his excellent vertical, light frame and big wingspan to attack almost every throw the opposition put in.
This forces the opposition to make a few decisions at lineout time. Do you abandon the front of the lineout while he’s there? Or do you look to move him around and play the narrow margin game of trying to beat his timing and positioning by throwing just behind him?
Exeter managed that last one;
And got some good reward at the maul for their trouble. That’s the thing with counter-jumping when you need two lifters – as Mostert always does – it means you give up ground in the maul if you don’t disrupt possession.
Leicester showed that last week;
The Tigers mauled into the space left by Mostert’s counter-launch and carted the Lions back 12 metres and won a penalty for their trouble. If Munster can win the race back to the floor and take the ball just behind Mostert, there are mauling opportunities to be had.
Exeter had a few good gimmicks for beating Mostert. First, have a look at this GIF and pay close attention to how closely the Gloucester prop/lifter has to track Mostert’s thighs in the build-up to the lift. That’s because Mostert is taking his timing from the hooker’s throwing action, not the pod alongside him.
That allowed Exeter to walk Mostert to the front of the lineout through Armand’s pod shuffling forward – and then use a cut out jump feint to throw an almost uncontested ball to the tail.
Watch Mostert here;
No eyes on the front pod, all eyes on the hooker. It’s the Gloucester lifter that’s watching the opposition front pod. Clever schemes to target that weakness in Gloucester’s front of the lineout defence – a lift feint to trigger his lifter early to beat him on timing could give you a great mauling position at the middle of the lineout or clean ball at the tail.
Mostert will often move to the middle of the lineout if you keep bypassing him but that gives you front of the lineout ball to access so you can usually bring him back in if you get enough lineout possession. Mostert’s key role in Gloucester is as a lineout disrupter so he’ll go up on most of their defensive set ups. And he’s not the only one.
Even when Gloucester are defending a lineout deep in their 22, they can trigger up to two counter-launches when most teams would stay on the floor to contest the maul.
There will be opportunities there if we can navigate the Mostert factor and avoid Grobler’s long arms in the maul set up, or as a second jumper in the middle. Ludlow will be the main jumper at the tail.
On their own ball, Gloucester can definitely be got at too.
With their injury list and new additions, everything is a little disjointed at lineout time for the Lions at the moment. They’ve had a few scrappy setups, blown schemes and bad throws;
Their primary targets for this game will be Slater and Grobler, with Mostert cycling in and out depending on his work rate on the other side of the throw. They have a decent attacking maul but will look to play with pace off the top to bring the most out of Cipriani at the setpiece.
It won’t be easy, but by managing these two factors we’ll go a long way to getting what we want.
