O’Halloran’s Rugby: Can Munster Beat Saracens To Keep Cup Hopes Alive?

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rsz_mike_ohalloranOur rugby writer, Mike O’Halloran, says that despite Munster’s recent woes, all is not lost for Saturday’s Champions Cup game at Saracens…

NEXT Saturday at 1pm, Munster Rugby will line out in the “plastic pitch” that is the home of Saracens RFC in London.

By 3pm the Munster train to the quarter finals of The Europen Champions Cup will either remain on track until Sunday of next week if they win.

If they lose, the final game will be played at an empty Thomond Park against Sale Sharks and the train will have run out of steam.

Saracens are three points ahead of Munster on the table with more tries scored, nine for Sarries, five  for Munster.

So Munster are up against it, as they seem to be every year in this competition, every season sees them going away to foreign fields attempting to stay in the competition.

Next Saturday is no different, only now the odds seem to be totally stacked against them. Conor Murray is a doubt after his shoulder/neck injury in Italy last weekend.

Munster were outclassed in the wind and rain in Galway the week before when Connaught bossed them all over the field.

Saracens have beaten ASM Clermont 30 points to 23, Munster lost the ASM Clermont home and away.

The referee is Romain Poite a man who is not a great fan of Munster’s tactics when the ball is on the ground or in the tackle.

So no chance then? No I’m not saying that, if Munster win on Saturday they will join Toulouse on winning 100 games in the European competition.

I take hope from the following stats and travel with a small degree of confidence.

1. Munster have won five out of their last six meetings.

2. Saracens were beaten last weekend in the Premiership and their lock George Kruis is to serve a three week ban for a tip tackle last weekend. He is a major loss as he has won 32 line outs and has a tackle count of 52.

3. Sarries have conceded more penalties than Munster, 12 to 8,  and Munster have a better goal kicking average 78% to 60%.

4. Munster has more time in possession in their previous meetings than Saracens averaging 17.7 minutes to 14.25 minutes.

5. Saracens have beaten fewer defenders than any other team in the competition.

Whats more interesting from a Kerry point of view is will there be a starting position for JJ Hanrahan? I suppose that depends on whether Anthony Foley goes with the lock picker like JJ or door breaker at number 12.

I was at the last away game in December 2012 where we were blown away by the saracens Tannoy, a ploy that annoyed Munster fans but also embarrassed most of the Sarries fans, there is a promise that the Tannoy man will be reined in for Saturday.

Saracens website raised a lot of eyebrows with the message on their site on the sale of tickets showing their sense of humour with a sentence about people with Irish accents attempting to book tickets.

I am certain that Munster support will be bigger than the home team.

Should be a great day out and a happy journey home with the dream of a quarter-final still alive until five o’clock on Sunday week.

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