In just under two seasons in charge of Munster, Graham Rowntree has grown fond of saying one thing in particular.
"We don't do things easy, do we?" is becoming a staple of the Munster coach's press conference larder.
The latest utterance came last Saturday evening at Thomond Park in the aftermath of his side’s comeback win against Ulster, as they rallied in the second half to come from 24-14 down and defeat Richie Murphy’s side 29-24 to seal top spot in the BKT United Rugby Championship table.
He has good cause to say it on repeat.
Their title win just over 12 months ago saw them break their long wait for a trophy with a five-game unbeaten run, all away from home, while both seasons have seen the squad endure a lengthy injury list.
Even this season, their status as top seeds in the play-offs was earned despite a sluggish start in which they won just four of their first nine games in the league.
The prize for that top seed is home advantage for as long as they remain in the competition. No long-haul flights to South Africa and no hotels and no changes to their training weeks that need to be navigated, just the comforts of their own beds and their own routine.
For the supporters who have taken planes, trains and automobiles, particularly last season, there's an opportunity to see their side win silverware at Thomond Park.
The challenge for Munster now, starting with this evening's quarter-final against Ospreys, is to show that they don't need to do it the hard way.
Their home advantage has been hard earned, with nine league wins in a row, and eight of those with bonus-points, seeing them pick up 44 points from a possible 45 since New Year’s Day.
The context of that winning run only emboldens it. Two of those bonus-point wins came in the Highveld against the Bulls and Lions, another was away to a fully-loaded Edinburgh side chasing play-off rugby, while either side of that there were Interpro wins over Connacht and Ulster.
The Munster coaches have spoken at length in recent weeks about the factors that have contributed to this winning run. The most important of those has obviously been the easing of their injury list, which left them depleted in December and January.
Last week, attack coach Mike Prendergast conceded that their elimination from the Champions Cup in the Round of 16 had the silver lining of giving them a singular focus, and an opportunity to take advantage of some down-weekends in April and May.
Their impressive run of form isn’t something they’ve stumbled into though. Since their elimination from the Champions Cup, there’s been a clear strategy in their team selection and game plan to maximise their strengths, and limit the strength of the opposition.
It’s arguable that they haven’t picked their strongest available starting team in any of the last five wins, with players like Gavin Coombes, Oli Jager and Tom Ahern held back in reserve, allowing them get a more balanced performance across 80 minutes.
Fading in the final quarter of games was a real issue for the province earlier in this season, admittedly with the caveat of their lengthy injury list. In the Champions Cup pool stage, they gave up promising second half leads in three of their four games, while they also struggled to stay the course in their Interpro defeats to Ulster, Leinster and Connacht.
Those issues have been addressed impressively since April, and the majority of their recent wins have been backboned by dominant second-half performances.
Additionally, Munster have shown an ability to adapt their game plan for certain conditions and opposition. The pick of those was their 33-13 win away to the Lions in Johannesburg in late April, when the defending champions went away from their usual attacking approach, and allowed the hosts have the, er, Lions-share of possession and territory, from which they rarely threatened Munster.
Their defence laid the platform that evening in South Africa, as they made 180 tackles in comparison to just 57 from their hosts. For a side whose adventurous attacking game gets a lot of attention, their 'D’ has quietly been the best in the URC this season, giving up just 38 tries and 318 points across 18 games, an average of two tries and 18 points per game.
"Look, the nature of defence is, you are always just one result or one poor performance away from a kick in the backside," defence coach Denis Leamy (above) told the Irish Independent this week.
"We will never get too excited about stats or anything like that, but I would be very pleased with what the boys are doing.
"We have got the best record in the league in terms of the fewest points scored against us, and I’ve said to the boys, that’s all well and good but the reality at times is that we can be better, and I mean that in a good way."
Complacency shouldn’t be an issue against the Ospreys, with 15 of this evening’s starting 23 featuring in the last meeting between the sides back in March, when Munster staged a smash-and-grab 27-17 away win, where the Welsh side largely contributed to their own downfall with two interceptions returned for tries by Seán O’Brien in the opening 16 minutes.
The Welsh side dominated the game, but Munster won it.
This evening, Rowntree doesn’t have the luxury of a stacked bench. The injuries are starting to gather, with Rory Scannell, Joey Carbery and Tom Ahern joining Alex Nankivell in the physio room in recent weeks.
In particular, Ahern’s injury leaves the province light on second row cover, with Gavin Coombes likely to move into lock if required, while they’re also without an experienced out-half in the event that something happens Jack Crowley.
The Munster coach has been able to retain some power on the bench, and particularly in the front row, where Diarmuid Barrin returns from injury to join experienced pair Oli Jager and John Ryan in reserve. Considering how Ospreys dominated the scrum when the sides last met, their influence could be telling.
A win this evening would be a tenth in a row for the province in the league, something they haven’t done since their title-winning season in 2010/11.
But with home advantage theirs for as long as they want it, there’s no reason for this run to stop at ten.
