Munster’s inability to curb Glasgow’s off-the-cuff offence cost them dearly in the Pro12 final, according to head coach Anthony Foley.
The Warriors, beaten in last year’s final by Leinster, flew out of the traps and established a 21-10 half-time lead, with second row forward Leone Nakarawa outstanding.
The Fijian set up tries for Rob Harley and DTH van der Merwe, with Henry Pyrgos also touching down.
Munster fought back with a try from Andrew Smith but could only add an Ian Keatley penalty after that, while Gregor Townsend’s men pushed on with a converted try from Finn Russell and a penalty from Duncan Weir to finish up 31-13 winners.
“The game was lost in the first half,” Foley, who took over from Rob Penney last year, told RTÉ Sport.
“The boys came out in the second half and gave it a good shot but the try we conceded off the pressure in the second half kind of killed it. It made it a three-score game and we couldn’t punish them.
“Fair play to them, they came out and they played the game that they liked early and it’s disappointing that we allowed that to happen.
“We spoke during the week about making it a bit more structured and to see them be able to offload and to score tries the way they did in the first half, it’s something that obviously that we didn’t plan for.
“We had a good defensive display for the majority of the year and for it to slip like that, particularly on the big day, is something we need to look at.
Asked about how he would assess his first season in charge, the former number eight said: “We’re a group, we’re growing. I think we used the bones of 48 players in the competition this year, we’ve a lot of new guys blooded.
“It is disappointing that we finished like that – a good trimming in the final. That is disappointing but it’s something that we’ll use as motivation for next year.”
“Fair play to them, they came out and they played the game that they liked early and it’s disappointing that we allowed that"
The 2009 and 2011 champions were without captain Peter O’Mahony, who had a hip injury. Stand-in skipper Denis Hurley was more frustrated than disappointed at the end of the game in Belfast.
The centre said: “Frustrating, first of all I think. We just never got going in the game. We started the second half quite well, we got on the scoreboard. We just didn’t get a hold into the game.
“We let Glasgow get two soft enough tries in the first 20 minutes and we were chasing the game early on, and a quality side like that, they’re very hard to break down then.
“It’s very sad for [the fans] and a few of the guys in the squad who are going to be heading away. It’s obviously quite hard to stand on the side of the pitch and watch another team lift the trophy.
“Once they got a couple of scores ahead their defence is quite strong and hard to break down. The more we were chasing the game [the more] the ball just wasn’t really hopping for us.”
