While the pressure of securing Investec Champions Cup qualification is off their backs, Ian Costello insists Munster are by no means in bonus-territory ahead of Saturday's BKT United Rugby Championship quarter-final against the Sharks.
A 32-man squad arrived in Durban this week for what could be two weeks in South Africa; if they win on Saturday, they will likely move on to Pretoria for a semi-final versus the Bulls.
There was great relief at the province this month when wins over Ulster and Benetton saw them scrape into the play-offs, and crucially secured their Champions Cup place for next season.
And although Costello admits that has lifted a weight off their shoulders, he says there is still a pressure for them to deliver in knockout rugby.
"It absolutely isn't a free shot," Munster’s interim coach said, ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final.
"There's an expectation we need to be in knockout rugby, there's a lot of pressure to get there. But now that we're here, we're very, very ambitious on what we want to achieve.
"We all know that we had to get into the play-offs. We had to get into the Champions Cup, that's the expectation that comes with Munster, rightly so.
"I think it was really important that we drew a line under that first. We put an awful lot into that physically, mentally and particularly emotionally in that last two weeks. There was so much to be pleased with in those last two weeks."
Ian Costello says he has "a huge amount of faith" in his players and coaches ahead of Munster's quarter-final against Sharks in South Africa on Saturday pic.twitter.com/G0NXmgdP01
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While the play-offs officially start this weekend, Munster have effectively been playing knockout rugby for much longer, with their season on the line for those games against Benetton and Ulster.
And while those games were physically and emotionally draining experiences, Costello says they’ve come to South Africa feeling fresh after a much needed weekend off.
"This group, over the last couple of weeks, have really showed how much they care about each other. It came out in the way we trained, prepared, what we would have seen behind closed doors and what you would have seen in the performances.
"You don't get the intensity and physicality of a performance like that unless there is a real deep care and it means a huge amount to this group.
"I think that was huge to get that job done, but we've had a taste of play-offs before, we've played a few knock-out this year, more than we would have liked, especially over the last couple of weeks. That's set us up to have a real crack at this week, so it's a fresh focus and just really excited about play-off rugby."
Saturday’s quarter-final also brings them back to the site of one of this season’s low points when they were beaten 41-24 by the Sharks in Round 5 of the regular season, with head coach Graham Rowntree leaving his role just a few days later.
But Costello, who has been in interim charge since then, says they aren’t motivated by what happened on that tour.
"No, that hasn't come into it at all of I'm honest.
"I think the squad is in a different place. You look at the squad that actually travelled over here, we looked at it yesterday and there's a huge difference between the squad that travelled over in October versus the squad that's over here this weekend, or this week.
"It feels like there's an awful lot more experience, guys really hitting their form, as I said, really competitive. We've had two weeks and that really helps.
"We know them [the Sharks] really well. We've looked at their last half dozen games as we always do. But a huge amount of focus has been on us, if I'm honest. Look at how we've improved over the last period and how we've managed two very, very high pressure games.
"Essentially, we're into the third knockout game in a row now because effectively that's what it was. So we've extracted a lot of our learnings around that, that has confidence in the group and it keeps the focus on who we are and what we do well as well."
There was positive news this week with confirmation that out-half Jack Crowley (below) will be fit after recovering from a rib injury picked up in Round 18, while Diarmuid Barron and Jeremy Loughman are also back on deck after missing time with injury.
And Costello says a healthy squad will be vital if they're to go on a repeat run of their title win from 2023.
"I suppose you go back six months and our availability was not where we would have liked it to be. There was a lot of challenges and changes at the club, and we probably didn't have the deep squad to select from those early games and that's what's so pleasing about where we're at now. The squad is really competitive.
"That comes out in selection, but it also comes out in training every day, so it means every single training session is better. People are really driven to perform in training, they know that training matters and there's probably 27, 28 guys that are really competitive to make a 23, or even a 15 at the moment. That drives standards right across the board.
"Bar a couple of players, we're in a pretty good position in terms of the health of our squad this week, and will need to be," Costello added.
Follow a live blog of Sharks v Munster and Leinster v Scarlets on Saturday on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, and listen to live commentary of both games on RTE Radio 1
Watch Leinster v Scarlets from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
