Yet for Oli Jager this is a fun time to be a prop, even if Munster are now fighting for the fate of their season in what remains of the URC campaign, with four rounds remaining in the regular season, a period between now and May 19 when play-off places can be secured or thrown away. Munster go into the weekend lying in fifth place, six points adrift of fourth and a guaranteed home quarter-final draw, with nine teams within nine points of them. The former Crusader tighthead accepts the pressure is on but insisted he and the rest of the squad were ready for the fight, buoyed by wins at Connacht and La Rochelle, and a 20-minute purple patch in defeat to Bordeaux-Begles. “With the games we’ve had, every one is a tough game now,” Jager said. “We never really had an easy game. Every one is just as dangerous as the next one. It’s been one gear the whole way and that’s been gear six, just keep going, no brakes. “It’s exciting. This is the time of year when people really see what kind of team you are. Everyone is gunning for those quarter-final places. The table is pretty tight, so every win is important now. We really have to go out there and not leave anything behind. “The Bulls are a big old South African team. They have been on tour now for a couple of weeks, so they have been together for a while, they’re a tight-knit group. It’s going to be a physical game and a fun time to go against a good team.” Jager, 29, admitted the 47-29 Champions Cup quarter-final defeat last Saturday had left a bitter taste given Munster’s wasted opportunities and lack of accuracy in the opening 50 minutes at Stade Chaban-Delmas but added: “We’ve got to park that. “We have to take learnings, as sore as it was watching back, we have to improve and show that we are still a good team that can win the URC. We have to go out fighting this weekend.” It is 17 months since Jager returned to Ireland having come up through the Crusaders academy after finishing school at Blackrock College. Despite seven years of continuous Super Rugby success based in Christchurch, the front-rower had to make considerable adjustments to the fundamentals of his game when making the reverse trip to the Northern Hemisphere and a different way of doing things at scrum time. Having played mostly against Australian and fellow New Zealand teams following the exodus of the South African franchises, Jager was scrummaging in a Super Rugby mindset of the set-piece as a method of restarting the game, rather than the out-and-out contest it can often become in Europe. “With New Zealand teams, you kind of had an idea because they pretty much scrummed the same way. It was easier to plan ahead. “They have changed it a wee bit now, I don’t know if it is because of foreign influence, but they have changed the set-up. When I was playing, it was very much stock standard. “But of course when you come here, for Europe or the URC, every team scrums differently. Everyone has a different mindset about how they can win a scrum, how they can dominate. “It’s a better picture to show, especially for the viewers. It’s a real fight every week, you don’t know what’s going to happen.” Mindset has not been the only thing that required an adjustment,” Jager revealed. “I have actually lost weight. A little bit on purpose but a lot has to do with the way we play. You need to be fitter to get around the park, you have a lot more jobs to do. “When I came over first, I was about 133kg and I learned pretty quickly that I couldn’t play at 133kg, so I have dropped down to about 127/128kg now, which is still relatively heavy. “It is definitely significant. When I was 133kg, I felt bloody good in those scrums, but everything around the park was harder. It was hard to get to rucks, I would still do it but I definitely wasn’t as fast on my feet as I am now. “I have definitely found the balance now where I can do both. I can scrum and I can get around the park, which is obviously what you want. You don’t just want to be known as a scrummaging prop. “Props nowadays are obviously expected to carry, clean, pass the ball, pretty much nearly kick at goal – we just have to wait and see when that starts happening!” Jager feels he has struck the right balance at 127-128kg but said: “It’s a lot of trial and error. Sometimes you feel good but sometimes you just feel like a bag of dog's balls. That depends on the previous game. “What’s the lowest weight I can go to in order to still know that I can be in a scrum and be able to hold my own. I think that’s what I’m at now. I feel like I am pretty much at my optimum weight now. “I don’t really want to get any lighter than what I am now and plus that means I can still eat cake, which is very important! As Ox Nche said: ’ Salads don’t win scrums’. “I think every front-row would be of the same mind. You ask any of them, they’re all going to take steak over salad!”