Munster head coach Graham Rowntree voiced his frustration after both Oli Jager and Jack O'Donoghue were carted off in his side's 22-9 defeat to Connacht in Galway.
It's now four games in a row without a win for the defending champions, who saw their 9-6 lead emphatically wiped out by Connacht in the final quarter, with their own former out-half JJ Hanrahan scoring 17 of the hosts' 22-point total.
To make matters worse for Munster, Jager and O'Donoghue both joined the province's lengthy injury list with serious looking injuries, with the pair brought off on stretchers.
Jager departed with a head injury after a heavy collision with Joe Joyce and Finlay Bealham, while O'Donoghue was left with a knee injury after a side entry by Byron Ralston.
"They're not in a great state," the Munster coach told RTÉ Sport.
"Oli sustained a head injury from a strange looking tackle that was apparently checked [by the TMO], and then Jack O'Donoghue got cleared out, a horrible side entry and his knee got twisted. It's not great if I'm honest with you.
"Two injuries we didn't need."
Ralston (above) was shown a yellow card for his clearout on O'Donoghue, with no action by the officials for the challenge on Jager.
And while Rowntree was frustrated with those decisions, he ultimately conceded that his side were beaten by the better team.
"They didn't look great in my opinion, but it's not why we lost tot game. We lost the game because we lost control of it, particularly in the last 10 minutes, where we were starved of field position.
"They stopped us getting into their 22. The breakdown was fierce, the scrum from them towards the end and JJ [Hanrahan] with the wind behind him kicked very well.
"And obviously our lineout fell apart at the end of the game. And they scored and took everything away from us," he added.
Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins said his side showed "bags of character" as they ended their five-game losing streak.
Having trailed 6-3 and 9-6 at stages in the second half, three further penalties from Hanrahan nudged them out to a six-point advantage in the final quarter, before Jack Aungier's try late on sealed a third successive win against their rivals at the Sportsground.
"We deserved the result," the Connacht coach told RTÉ Sport.
"I think you're not going to win an Interpro in these conditions without bags of character. I thought that was there, the fight, the relentlessness, that was really important for us. Also, there was some smarts in terms of the game management.
"There was some fantastic defensive sets, which we used to turn momentum and apply pressure back to Munster.
"There was all different bits of our game that stood up, the pressure around the set-piece, the lineout defence, I was really pleased."
Having been starved of possession and territory in the opening half, albeit into strong wind and rain, the hosts looked by far the better team after the break, particularly around discipline where they gave up just two penalties.
And Wilkins said that shift in discipline was the foundation of the win.
"Certainly, the discipline bit was crucial. For us, we talked about the game being finely poised at half time, we talked about having the wind second half which was going to help the game management.
"Really, it was me trying to explain to the players where we thought Munster could get access to the game, and it was through penalties.
"Depending on how we're trying to move the ball around the field, whether we're trying to exit or attack off slow breakdowns and messy ball, that gives Munster cusks that they can target, and they're very good at getting over the ball and putting pressure on us and the referee to get penalties.
"That was a crucial access point for them, and I think we heeded that pretty smartly, cut down the number of phases before we kicked, kept playing off the fast ball, and maybe didn't try to make things up when it wasn't there for us. That was crucial in terms of the penalty count," he added.
