‘You don’t want to push the emotional button too early’ – Glasgow Warriors know balance required to dethrone Munster
Glasgow defence coach Peter Murchie says his team know the levels they have to reach to beat Munster on Saturday
It has been the fiercest rivalry across borders in the history of the URC and Glasgow Warriors are fully aware of the pitch they want to get to in order to dethrone Munster at Thomond Park on Saturday.
When the Scottish region meet the Irish province, it’s usually eventful and often controversial, right up to last year’s quarter-final when Glasgow had a player sent off and Munster defended their way to a win.
Revenge may be on Warriors’ minds this week, but their former player Pete Murchie – part of the squad that won the PRO12 by beating Munster nine years ago – says they’ll need to stay calm.
“There’s definitely a balance. We played less than 48 hours ago, so we’re still reviewing the game and starting to move on to Munster,” the defence coach said.
“You don’t want to push the emotional button too early in the week. There is no point having guys headbutting the walls today, saying what they’re going to do.
“It’s more about building that through the week, along with our game plan. Then you start tapping into the emotional bit and making sure we’re in the right place to take on a semi-final away from home at Thomond Park.
“We know the place we’re going to have to get to, but you don’t push that button too early. You don’t need Tuesday warriors, you need Friday and Saturday warriors.
“We have to manage that as coaches, and we have great leaders who will go about managing that as well.
“The process doesn’t change. Just because it’s a semi-final, we’re not doing anything special in and around that. It’s our normal week-to-week process, looking to get the best out of individuals and the best out of the team.”
Munster are set to welcome influential centre Alex Nankivell back from injury but have confirmed Joey Carbery had an operation on his thumb and Thomas Ahern is likely to have surgery on his ankle, so both players’ seasons are over.
