Exeter brace for backlash at Thomond Park

An early try by Exeter’s Stuart Hogg set the tone for a gritty, 13-8 victory by the Premiership outfit over Munster at Sandy Park. Rob Baxter’s men will, however, be bracing themselves for a vicious backlash as the Irishmen gear up for the return clash in front of their passionate home fans this weekend at the fortress of Thomond Park. 

Baxter was delighted with the work his men put in on defence. 

 “It was a funny one, now it’s finished you would say the tale of the game is us not being able to take our opportunities or Munster stopping us taking those five-metre opportunities that we managed to create.  

“But then you turn it around and say when we were down to 13 men, we had to work like devils really to stop them scoring.   

“You could feel there was a real opportunity for them because we had 10 minutes with only 13 men and that could really have turned against us.  

“Some of our spirit in defence and around the breakdown, especially when down to 13 men, that was probably some of our best rugby this season.   

“The whole game, the whole situation could have flipped then, but it didn’t. To only lose the scoreboard by two points in that period, I thought was incredible from us. 

“We have got over the try line a number of times, yet we haven’t got the ball dotted on the floor. That’s not a disaster of a performance, that’s a very good performance with the last dot-down just needed.   

“It’s like dotting the last ‘i’ on a novel, that’s all that needs to happen. All the hard work, processes and elements are there, and that gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.” 

SEE: How the Champions Cup quarter-finals work and how things stand ahead of the second leg 

Munster Head Coach Johann Van Graan reflected on the first leg encounter: 

“It was a tremendous game of rugby,” he said. 

“I felt we lost the breakdown battle in the first 40 minutes, but we got stuck into the second 40. 

“Both teams had opportunities to win it in the end. I think it was a fair result. 

“Our late goal-line stands could be massive. There were also a few moments in the corner where they knocked on the ball. 

“For us, Craig Casey’s effort was on-field decision no try and they couldn’t see it to award it, so there were big ebbs and flows in this game and all to play for next week in Thomond Park.”

Baxter conceded that his men will have to pull out all the stops to come away with another victory. 

“At the end of the day, we have to be flat out,” he said.  

“If we’re not flat out, I think Munster can expect to turn that over.   

“They are probably in the changing room now with a few late changes they made to their squad, players available next week, and they are probably relatively happy with the scoreboard. Now we have to turn that into our favour.  

“The last time we played there, we played well, but we had the pressure of trying to get five points and score four tries. We had to go for it.   

“We actually created a lot of pressure where we could have kicked for goal, but couldn’t do that on the day. We had no option of how we could win the game.   

“This time we’ve got lots of options for how we can win the game, we’ve not had that before, and we have to make sure we are willing to work extremely hard to make that happen.” 

Key facts:

• Munster and Exeter have a balanced head-to-head record in the Heineken Champions Cup. Each team has one win and shares one draw; Munster has yet to score more than 10 points in a game against Exeter in Europe.
• Munster have lost their last two matches at home in the knockout stage of the Heineken Champions Cup after winning nine of their previous 10; one of those two losses came against English opposition (16-32 v Saracens in 2018).
• Munster have conceded 1.26 points per 22-entry in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, fewer than any other team; only Racing92 (5.3) have conceded fewer 22 entries per game.
• Munster’s Peter O’Mahony has claimed 31 lineouts in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, a joint-high alongside Lood de Jager; this includes six lineout steals, more than any other player.
• Munster duo Tadhg Beirne and John Hodnett have each won six jackal turnovers in the Heineken Champions Cup this season. No other player has won as many turnovers in that fashion.
• Exeter’s Sam Simmonds is the top try scorer in the Heineken Champions Cup this season(7); he has failed to score in just one game in the competition this season–against Munster last weekend.
• This season, Stuart Hogg (Exeter) has averaged 44 metres per kick in the Heineken Champions Cup, the most of any player to have made 10+ kicks in play.