Ken Borland

Munster might be missing a couple of their star players for their United Rugby Championship opener on Saturday, but Sharks attack coach Noel McNamara says Johann van Graan’s outfit will still have plenty of momentum behind them at Thomond Park.

Springboks RG Snyman and Damian de Allende will obviously not be playing, but there has been speculation that British and Irish Lions tourists Tadhg Beirne and Conor Murray are also not available. But Munster have been one of the powerhouses of Irish rugby and they have looked sharp in their pre-season matches.

“Munster are a very settled and successful side with South African coaches in Johan van Graan and JP Ferreira. They have been really consistent in the Pro14 and they are a momentum team, when they get momentum they are very difficult to stop. They will present a lot of challenges to us, but there’s a lot of excitement in our squad and we are looking forward to the challenge.

“That’s what the best players are motivated by – playing against the best. Munster have a big squad with a number of internationals in various positions and some very good youngsters coming through. Maybe Tadhg and Conor and a couple of Springboks won’t be there, but we won’t have any false sense of security. A young Munster team ran out very easy winners over Exeter in a warm-up game last weekend,” McNamara, who knows Munster well from his time as Leinster Academy Manager, said on Tuesday.

McNamara said playing in Europe offers the Sharks a great opportunity to show how adaptable they are, especially when it comes to the crucial breakdown battle.

“We will certainly have to adapt to referees in the United Rugby Championship, because it is a competition featuring different countries and different referees from those countries. So you can’t say this or that will be the way the competition will be blown. On any given day, you start from zero and you have to adapt and show good pictures to the referee.

“Munster are very strong over the ball, they have a high rate of turnovers, and against a jackal-based team like that you have to be on-point. In the Rainbow Cup they made an average of seven turnovers per game, so we’ve got to be accurate. And they have a variety of kickers available to them, a number of kicking threats, so it’s not just about shutting them down in one area,” McNamara warned.

Batting hero Rassie van der Dussen says the Proteas know from their own batting collapse that their bowlers will still have enough assistance from the St Lucia pitch to win the second Test against the West Indies, but if wickets do become hard to get then they know they can extort them through the age-old disciplines of line and length.

Van der Dussen scored a fine 75 not out, fighting his way to his sixth Test half-century and lifting South Africa from a deep hole at 73 for seven to 174 all out, with the tremendous assistance of Kagiso Rabada, who stroked a bright, career-best 40. That left the West Indies with a far more daunting target of 324 to share the series.

“We knew that the West Indies would already have to make their biggest score of the series and we would have been happy with a lead of 250 to 280, but then KG came in and played brilliantly. It’s the sort of pitch where you know you have to move positively and show intent. If you just hang around then you will get good balls that can get you out.

“As a batsman, you have to get into good, strong positions, even though the pitch is getting a little more placid. And if they do manage to put together a partnership then we will have to be really disciplined with our lines and lengths because there is a bit of assistance for the bowlers. We’ve grafted hard and played some really good cricket over the first two days, now we just need to back it up,” Van der Dussen said.

The 32-year-old went through another gripping contest with West Indian bowling spearhead Kemar Roach, who finished with four for 52. Van der Dussen was bowled without playing a shot by a beauty from Roach in the first innings and said he did some important analysis between innings.

“Kemar is a world-class performer and he made it tough for me in the first innings, doing a lot with the ball. So I did some analysis this morning, just working on some different options and game-plans, trying to take lbw out of the picture and just covering the outside edge.

“I don’t mind changing things in the middle of a Test, I’ve played a lot of first-class cricket and I know my game. Sometimes it’s just a matter of changing a couple of small things,” Van der Dussen said in a television interview.