Graham Rowntree gave an emotionally charged, and slightly negative response after Munster lost once more to their rivals, Leinster, in Thomond Park last night.
It shows the opportunity that Munster passed up when their head coach is that disappointed afterwards. Leinster are the league leaders, while also the leaders in a lot of rugby innovation.
Their originality in attack is what got them unstuck against Munster in Thomond Park, along with controlled game management once they regained the lead in the third quarter. Their key players didn't stand out as much as usual, yet they were able to turn the game when the real pressure came on following a Munster penalty try and Max Deegan’s yellow card.
Tap and go trick plays are still doing the rounds. Scott Penny finished his try well after a subtle pass from Dan Sheehan and dummy runners with him. However, what will disappoint Munster coaches, players and fans is the third quarter collapse.
Errors happen in matches but it’s when you compound errors that trouble starts. Failure to gather a straightforward high ball, a penalty a couple of phases later, and missing a simple tackle on Dan Sheehan’s quick tap penalty separated the teams in the end.
Munster actually outscored Leinster in terms of tries, three to two, after one of their own fast-paced tries scored by Patrick Campbell in the right hand corner in the second half. Not many teams stretch Leinster as much as that, causing poor defensive reads on the inside and a scrambling James Lowe tackle on the outside.
It shows that the Munster game has improved all around the pitch. Despite not playing their most accurate rugby, Munster were able to cross the try line more than Leinster. Their defence also rushed Leinster’s attack which is what limited the attacking potential of Ringrose, Keenan, Lowe and co.
There are loads of positives for Munster to take from the game, despite the glum Rowntree reaction post-match. However, Munster have been there before.
Leinster will dust themselves down and happily go home with their four-point away victory following a tough test on the road. Those are the games where Leinster will learn about themselves, they will learn where opposition teams were able to hurt them and correct these issues long before they get in to knock-out rugby.
It's invaluable for Leinster that Munster caused them so much trouble, albeit intermittently and while riding their own luck a bit as well.
However, you start to wonder if the older core of Munster players are going to retire without beating Leinster again, and that’s pretty grim. Going close is encouraging for Munster in terms of the changes being made this season and reinvigorating the way they’re playing the game. The coaches are putting massive pressure on Munster to train and play fast and the evidence is there on the pitch.
The problem is that’s still happening in Leinster and from a higher starting point. As much as Munster are trying to catch Leinster, Leinster are trying to catch and stay ahead of the biggest teams in Europe. The standard is higher and going close to beating Leinster isn’t going to change that pecking order any time soon.
Munster and Ulster will now do battle to see which of the teams that 'almost’ beat Leinster will head into the new year as Ireland’s second best province.
Ulster’s showing against Connacht will be nothing for Munster to fear. Ulster dominated most of the game but looked very limited in their attacking game. They played with a lot of one-out runners within their attacking pods of three, before trying to launch a phase play attack through Doak or McCloskey with little flow or momentum.
Ulster didn’t cause Connacht too much trouble away from their attacking maul, which is still getting them through games where they fail to dominate as we would expect them to.
The selection of Doak ahead of Jake Flannery was a mistake. It’ll be interesting to see which way McFarland will go when Munster travel to the North. Flannery, a member of the emerging Ireland squad, was not selected in his favoured position ahead of an out-of-position Doak.
Doak’s performance the week before would have offered some hope, but there’s a difference between plugging a gap when needed and the head coach picking a scrum half at out half ahead of an exciting and emerging out half.
Maybe it’s too early in the Doak out-half trial to be so harsh, but you’d have to wonder what Jake Flannery is thinking.
A start against his home province could be the spark that Ulster need to get their season back firing.
Despite their loss to Leinster, Munster are the team with momentum out of these two. The error-strewn derby was a poor contest until Connacht decided to up the pace and force a comeback against Ulster.
Ulster nearly fell fowl to a second derby comeback. Munster’s trajectory, although not shown by the results, will force Ulster to refocus at home and provide another thrilling interprovincial derby to start the new year.
