'I'll never forget that dressing room' - Rowntree hoping to avoid repeat against Glasgow at Thomond Park

Graham Rowntree's eyes roll dramatically at the first mention of Munster's defeat to the Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park in March 2023.

Coming out of last year's Six Nations break, the province looked well placed to challenge for a home quarter-final, only for Franco Smith's Warriors to stage an ambush in Limerick.

The final score that day, 38-26 in Glasgow's favour, was largely flattering to Munster, who rallied to pick up a try-scoring bonus-point in the second half.

"28-0 at half time, wasn't it? I'll never forget that dressing room," Rowntree says, as he prepares for Glasgow's return to Thomond Park in the URC semi-finals on Saturday (6pm).

Nobody at Thomond Park that day would have predicted what was about to happen, as Munster went on a back-door run to the BKT United Rugby Championship title, going unbeaten away to the Stormers and Sharks, and then seeing off Glasgow, Leinster and the Stormers again, all away from home to become champions.

What felt at the time like the last rites of their season proved to be their kiss of life. There will be no such second chances when the pair meet at Thomond this Saturday.

"The term I've used widely, it gave us a punch in the nose.

"Certainly, defensively, we changed some key elements of our game and how we were training which stood to us. I say stood to us, we went to Durban and got beat by the Sharks the week after, but I look back at what we learned, and it stood to us since then," the Munster coach (below) added.

Rowntree's side exacted revenge on Glasgow by defeating them at Scotstoun in the quarter-final later that season, while they also won against the Warriors when the side met earlier this season in Cork.

What looked like being a straightforward Munster win that night proved