Munster McGahan's gets tactical
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:35
Munster coach Tony McGahan is fully prepared for a tactical examination this weekend as he and his Red Army head to Sale in Sunday’s second Heineken Cup group match.
With injury clouds hanging over both Ian Dowling and Rua Tipoki McGahan looks set to only settle on his starting lineup at the end of the week, but, as to how he intends his team to play - the Australian has a very clear picture in his mind
"We're still monitoring both players [Dowling and Tipoki] and will continue to do so until Friday, when we have to name our side, to give them both every chance of playing,
"We're still trying to match a game plan that includes an ability to play rugby from all areas of the pitch with a more traditional kicking and forward-dominated game," he said.
"How we mix and match the two is still evolving, both from game to game and intertwined in the same game. But as the games against Glasgow and Montauban showed, there are examples of when we didn't do it.
"I still think we kicked to the corners successfully in the first 20 minutes (last Friday) but it doesn't help you when you make 22 mistakes inside the opposition's 40-metre line, which is what we did against Montauban."
McGahan, like everyone else, was impressed with Sales showing against Clermont last weekend and fully expects them to provide a tough test for the Irish side this weekend, saying his team would need to be "more tactically astute, and our ball carrying needs to be more accurate," if they are to get the right result.
"Sale competed very hard in defence, played the game in the right areas and capitalised on Clermont's mistakes - it was a very conclusive performance," he observed.
"It's a tight pitch with a very small in-goal areas, and the ball really skids along, so you need good angles on your kicking game.
"Field position will be very important and [Luke] McAlister has been kicking 60-metre field goals all season, so discipline will have to be very tight."
