Eddie O'Sullivan: Defence the priority for Munster v Glasgow

Eddie O'Sullivan believes Munster's defence will be the winning or losing of their BKT United Rugby Championship semi-final against Glasgow Warriors on Saturday night (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).

The province travel to Scotstoun in good form after closing out the regular season with a win and a draw on their tour of South Africa, which saw them finish fifth in the table and secure Champions Cup qualification.

The Warriors head into the playoffs as arguably the form team of the championship though, winning their final four games of the regular season and losing just one of their last 18 in all competitions.

The Scottish side will also contest their first final in four years after reaching the decider of the Challenge Cup against Toulon in Dublin later this month.

It marks a turnaround in fortunes under head coach Franco Smith, who replaced the sacked Danny Wilson in the summer of 2022.

"He's done a good job and stabilised the programme and taken it forward," O'Sullivan told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.

However, the ex-Ireland boss also reserved special praise for a former Connacht and Ireland U20 coach who has played a major role in Glasgow's thrilling attacking game.

"We shouldn't forget Nigel Carolan [above], the attack coach," O'Sullivan added.

"The Glasgow attack is top notch. They'll rip you apart if you don't defend well. If Munster defend well, they'll probably win the game, because they'll score points."

It's just under six weeks since the Warriors were comprehensive 38-28 winners against Munster at Thomond Park, having torn Graham Rowntree's side apart in a 28-0 opening half.

That heavy defeat was sandwiched between two more other poor defensive outings, where they conceded 42 points in spite of a win against the Scarlets,