Munster prop Stephen Archer says their Heineken Champions Cup drubbing away to the Sharks was the turning point in their season, as they prepare for a URC semi-final against Leinster this Saturday (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
Six weeks ago, the province's season looked to be dying on the vine after they were dumped out of the Champions Cup in a 50-35 hammering away to the Sharks in South Africa. And while they still looked likely to finish in the BKT United Rugby Championship playoffs, they appeared in danger of missing out on a place in next season's Champions Cup.
However, a gutsy win away to the Stormers was followed by a 19-point comeback to save a 22-22 draw with the Sharks in Durban, before booking their place in Saturday's semi-final against Leinster with a 14-5 win away to in-form Glasgow last weekend.
Their season has been given a shot of adrenaline in recent weeks, and while they're considerable underdogs to pull off a shock against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, the prospect of them being in a URC semi-final didn't seem likely six weeks ago.
Tighthead prop Archer says everything changed after that Champions Cup elimination.
"I think we had a good hard look at ourselves after the European loss to the Sharks," he said.
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"We knew we were going back out there to play the Stormers who are top class, so we had a good review, and had a lot of things to work on, and two weeks to do that.
"We had to pull up the
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Stephen Archer