Munster head coach Anthony Foley has no regrets about replacing try-scoring out-half Johnny Holland as his side were narrowly beaten 16-13 in tonight’s Guinness Pro12 clash with Leinster.
Holland was replaced by experienced campaigner Ian Keatley after 57 minutes with the tie all-square on 13 points apiece.
The young Munster number 10 had put in a near flawless performance, having kicked two penalties as well as converting his own try from way out on the left flank, matching his opposing out-half Johnny Sexton who scored 13 similar points for Leinster.
“One of our players takes a quick tap, we knock it on from the next ruck and the game is over." - Foley
Keatley’s first involvement was to attempt a relatively kickable penalty, which would have seen Foley’s side take a three-point lead going into the final 20 minutes but the kick lacked conviction and drifted past the post.
Naturally the coach was questioned for his decision-making after the game but Foley had no regrets over the decision citing that the game was still there to be won in the final moments.
“It was the right thing for us to do to bring on a more experienced player to see us through to the end of the game,” Foley told RTÉ Sport after the game.
“I thought Johnny (Holland), in the biggest game he ever played, had a lot of very high-end moments.
“Like everything else, when you’re out on the pitch under that pressure, mistakes are happening so it was important that we didn’t burn the candle at both ends with him.
“Ian got us to within three points of winning the game from the ten position and unfortunately we didn’t get the opportunity to see it through.”
Munster battled hard throughout and matched the now league leaders in front of more than 40,000 spectators at the Lansdowne Road venue.
Foley’s side conceded a solitary try when down to 14 men following some sloppy maul defence, which was eventually punished by the referee, sending Robin Copeland to the sin bin.
But Munster dominated for large periods of the second half and got right back into the game when Holland touched down in the corner in the 47th minute.
Foley’s side were camped inside the five-metre line for the remaining minutes of the contest and decided to try to win the game from penalty positions rather than taking three points for a guaranteed draw.
“It’s one that got away,” added Foley. “We played a lot of good rugby at times and to be camped on their line for the last three or four minutes of the game and to get nothing out of it is a small bit disappointing.
“I think we went to the corner, we were held up an inch or two short, we get a scrum off the back of that, we throw a couple of good plays at them and then we get held up again short of the line.
“One of our players takes a quick tap, we knock it on from the next ruck and the game is over.
“It does frustrate you a small bit. Obviously having a penalty there you could look at a number of things that could have happened, but unfortunately the decisions were made, you can’t take them back and you have to get on with it.”
Munster did not leave empty handed, having secured a losing bonus point, but that was scant consolation for Foley who admitted that they had come to Dublin to win the game.
“We came up here to win the game, we thought we were good enough to win, I thought we did it well, I thought we had some stand-out performances and to come away with just one point is three left behind.
“We’ve been trying to get into the top four, we’ve been a result or two away from it for a while.
“We needed a better result against Cardiff, we didn’t get a result here so we’ll be looking above us and below us and scrapping as hard as we can to get as many points as we can from the next three games.”
