Munster seeking consistency in third year of new ticket

Through the good times and the bad, with Munster it's never dull.

As he enters his third season as head coach with the province, Graham Rowntree’s first two campaigns in the top job could be summed up as eventful.

After a disastrous start to his first campaign they pulled off the most unlikely of titles wins, but when it looked like they had once again timed their run to perfection back in May of last season, they saw their ten-game unbeaten run smashed by the eventual champions Glasgow Warriors in a home semi-final.

While the highs were high in 2023/24, the lows were low. Their ten-game winning run included back-to-back bonus-point wins in South Africa, while a dominant win away to Toulon was the peak of their Champions Cup campaign.

Their Champions Cup campaign as a whole was one of their worst for several years. Having secured a top seed for winning the URC back in 2023, Rowntree made no secret of the fact that improving their European form was a big priority last season, but they never got the plane off the runway.

A poor draw at home to Bayonne was followed up by a collapse away to Exeter, and while that Toulon win did threaten to kickstart things, they again fell flat at home to Northampton, before losing to the Saints again in the last-16.

Getting back to the business end of the Champions Cup willl be high on their agenda for 2024/25, but that can’t come at the expense of their URC form.

MUNSTER PLAYER PROFILES

Becoming more consistent at Thomond Park is the first place to start. Their draw and defeat at home in the Champions Cup was the first time they’d ever gone winless at home in Europe, those games coming either side of a St Stephen’s Day defeat to Leinster.

The home form picked up in the final third of the