[su_dropcap style=”flat” size=”4″]A[/su_dropcap]fter this latest instalment of Monday Night Rugby, we’re into the dreaded Middle Block of the provincial season where the internationals return the week before our first Heineken Cup game and the real business of the season starts to be done.
If, as expected, Munster can make it seven wins from seven in Thomond Park against Zebre in this game, the next seven games are Harlequins (H), ASM Clermont (A), Leinster (H), Ulster (A), Connacht (A), ASM Clermont (H) and then Harlequins away in the Stoop to finish off what we know the season to date in January 2021.
That doesn’t mean that Zebre can be considered a foregone conclusion – far from it, actually. The addition of Mattia Bellini, Guglielmo Palazzani, Daniele Rimpelli and David Sisi to the Italian squad – which brings Zebre’s international contingent up to 14 – combined with a few injuries means that Bradley will be bringing an extraordinarily inexperienced and youthful side to Limerick on Saturday.
As a result, Zebre have to be considered an obstacle to be dispatched in the manner that the teams we consider our rivals have managed this season. Ulster beat them 57-14 over in Parma a few weeks ago. Leinster beat them 63-8 in Dublin earlier in the season. Like it or not, this Munster selection will be expected to run up a similar score against an opponent more damaged than most by their international call-ups.
Zebre: 15. Junior Laloifi, 14. Giovanni D’Onofrio, 13. Giulio Bisegni, 12. Enrico Lucchin, 11. Pierre Bruno, 10. Paolo Pescetto, 9. Alessandro Fusco; 1. Riccardo Brugnara, 2. Marco Manfredi, 3. Alexandru Tarus, 4. Gabriele Venditti, 5. Leonard Krumov, 6. Mick Kearney, 7. Alessandro Mordacci, 8. Lorenzo Masselli
Replacements: 16. Massimo Ceciliani, 17. Andrea Lovotti, 18. Matteo Nocera, 19. Andrea Chianucci, 20. Oliviero Fabiani, 21. Simone Marinaro, 22. Alessandro Forcucci, 23. Jamie Elliott (36)
We know that Zebre will concede penalties in this game.
That’s what they’ve done all season to date. They will concede penalties at the scrum, at the breakdown and infringe offside. Can Munster score a few tries off the back of close range mauls? Absolutely. I’m sure we’ll get opportunities to take on their maul deep in their 22 and I’m sure if we’re accurate there that we’ll be able to pick up a few scores against this Zebre side.
But do we want to focus on close-range mauls? Yes! But I’ve already done that for the Ireland game this weekend so, to freshen it up, I wanted to focus on some of the other areas where I think Munster can stretch their legs. It would be disingenuous to suggest that Munster can’t win this game any way they want – and I mean no disrespect to Zebre with that – so my main point is that there isn’t one major flaw in this Zebre side. As with most lower-level sides, and especially lower-level sides with mass international commitments and injury issues (25 players in total) you’d be expecting a lot of the usual issues; falling off their ruck defence structures, lineout turnovers, blown attacking phases and all that with a cardiovascular drop off in the last quarter.
One of the main areas I looked at as possible entry points in this game was on kick transition. Why? Zebre have not one but TWO debuting scrum-halves starting and on the bench alongside a pair of starting and replacement fly-halves with 4 professional caps between them so I think it would be fair enough to assume that the quality of their kicking strategy and execution will be lacking.
In practicality, this means that there’s a high likelihood of;
- Poor quality exits
- A lack of patience and execution of their strategic kicking game
- Poorly organised defensive transition structures especially after two or more kick exchanges.
If I wanted to attack a side in transition against Zebre, I’d probably go with a back three of Sweetnam/Nash/Gallagher with a guy like Goggin at outside centre. When you look at Zebre’s work on kick transition against Ulster and Zebre, you see the areas where Munster can look to take advantage.
Poor chase structures on top of poor exits leave running lanes for players to attack in transition and find mismatches on the subsequent one or two phases.
Against Leinster, Zebre showed the same issues.
This also plays into Zebre’s selection where, in the absence of a host of first-team starters, they’ve gone with a pretty big starting pack. They’ve got three locks in their back five and their #8, Lorenzo Masselli, is a big, physical runner. It makes sense for Munster to shake these guys up under a few tactical kicks before picking them off as they try to reset after the transition, either straight from the run back or when we spot any of what is essentially their tight seven defending space at the edges after the first or second phase after the runback.
From there, it’s about taking chances. Focusing on transition runbacks and, to a lesser extent, breakdown transitions, will produce the pictures we want and give guys like French and Daly opportunities to attack in space later in the game once Zebre start to drop off as they have done in every other game over the last few rounds.
