Munster coach Rob Penney rues missed opportunities against Racing

Munster head coach Rob Penney was disappointed to see his side leave Paris after a 22-17 defeat to Racing Metro with just a losing bonus point after dominating for much of the game.

Penney watched his players completely control the first 30 minutes but trail 13-10 at half-time in wet conditions before the province once again relinquished the lead at the death.

"We had opportunities - there's no doubt about it," Penney said after his first Heineken Cup game. "Very disappointed with the outcome but really pleased overall with the performance in a number of areas.

"But we just weren't capable of nailing those couple of opportunities and we let a couple of opportunities in their hands, which we shouldn't have provided for them."

"We just weren't capable of nailing those couple of opportunities and we let a couple of opportunities in their hands." - Robe Penney

Penney pointed to a key period midway through the first half as pivotal to the result.

The dominant visitors led 10-3 when Paul O'Connell had a try ruled out, and Racing then pounced on an error in the Munster back-line as Maxime Machenaud chased down a try.

"We tried to run a ball that probably wasn't appropriate to run and they kicked through and got a try on the back of that. So it was a 14-point turnaround at that stage," he said.

"Then we created opportunities elsewhere and got close but just didn't quite get over the mark."