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Munster need to 'lay traps' | Liam Toland on how Munster can catch up

Liam Toland was in for Wednesday Night Rugby on Off The Ball where he looked how Munster need to ...



Liam Toland was in for Wednesday Night Rugby on Off The Ball where he looked how Munster need to evolve after the surreal return of rugby.

Toland began with the surreal nature of the rugby experience at the moment.

"Walking down Lansdowne Road it was like armegeddon had landed," said Toland of Saturday's game against Leinster.

"No burger joints, no touts, no atmosphere, no crowds around. I would say without a doubt it was the cleanest, least likely place to get COVID in western Europe."

For once the clinical nature of the stadium was complimentary but some of what Toland saw of Munster was very much of the past.

"How Connacht and Leinster lay a trap was much better than how Ulster and Munster can lay a trap," said the Eir Sports analyst.

"You look at De Allende, his first carry was from a standing start and he was double-teamed by Cian Healy and Josh Van Der Flier, there was no ground made.

"The first set-piece he could have really carried, he was used as a decoy. I think that was disappointing, I think with Leinster at their best they lay these traps all over the place where ultimately they can switch the position of the play.

"We saw the James Lowe try, where Johnny Sexton slipped down the blindside. He has a quality young player beside him, great hands and they convert a three-v-two."

Munster

Toland pointed out some instances of how Munster could vary aspects of their play.

"If you look at CJ Stander, who was phenomenal against Leinster," the former Old Crescent man noted. "He picked off the base and zoned in on Johnny Sexton.

"What was the difference? If CJ Stander could get Johnny Sexton to think he's going to run at him but a couple of metres out if he could change and target a weaker shoulder or give an offload.

"That's creating a trap. Everyone is expecting CJ Stander to run straight into Sexton but what would happen if Stander used that moment to do something different or if De Allende used that moment to do something different?

"I think that's the difference between Leinster and Connacht and the other two sides. They are constantly laying traps around shifting the ball and the point of the attack.

"New Zealand teams play across the pitch, they are not massively 'in-depth.' Whereas Munster are a lot of the time in-depth, but taking one out carriers."

The issues at Munster are fixable and Toland reckons the right coaching team are in place to help.

"So Munster are protecting the ball and protecting it very well. While Leinster and Connacht are not, they are shifting the ball around a lot and it's much more difficult to get your defence set, particularly if there is a blindside.

"Teams don't have the ability to blitz on the blindside so Leinster are constantly trying to create these mismatches and they are happy and patient to get through to the fifth or sixth phase and then pull that trigger.

"That's the piece I'm really looking forward to seeing as Munster evolve under Larkham, can they start to do that a bit."

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