Anthony Foley: Munster must earn win over Dragons

Munster coach Anthony Foley says his team must earn victory over Dragons in order to put themselves in with a chance of a home Pro12 semi-final.

The Irish province face the Welsh region in the final round of regular season fixtures today knowing that a win would more than likely leave them into the top two of the final league table.

But the Munster boss is taking nothing for granted, saying: “Dragons have beaten Leinster home and away this season and got into a European Challenge Cup semi-final, so they’re a squad we’ve a lot of respect for.

"We’ve known a bit about it for a couple of years, in terms of these young fellas coming through – Hallam Amos, Jack Dixon, they’re talented young players and we’ve got to keep an eye out for that.

“We’ve got to respect them and give a performance that will earn us a right to win the game.

“Our focus all year was that we qualified in the top four and into Europe next year. Now the focus is on getting as high a seeding as possible and obviously if you win the competition [the Pro12] that’s it.

“So it’s about taking every step at a time and making sure that we’re properly prepared and make sure we go into the game with a good focus and a good bill of health and make sure we get a performance.

“It’s exciting. It’s something we look forward to. We’ve two more games in the season guaranteed to us. We’ve got to work to get a third. We’ve a difficult match this weekend playing against Dragons. They’ll obviously be looking to finish their season on a high. They’ve a very good young squad that have stepped up a lot this year."

“Dragons have beaten Leinster home and away this season and got into a European Challenge Cup semi-final, so they’re a squad we’ve a lot of respect for" - Anthony Foley

Foley also admitted he was disappointed by his side only claiming a draw against Ulster last week but that the squad can learn from the experience of letting their lead slip late on.

“I think we’d be disappointed not to have won the game last weekend, but not many teams can go up to Ravenhill and do what we did there," said Foley. "It’s about understanding that and having confidence coming away from it, but the understanding comes from the work it takes to get it done.

"We’re not going to shirk that and we’ll make sure we’re properly prepared this week and hopefully get a very good performance against Dragons because we’ll need it to beat them.”