The gloom around Munster is deepening by the week with the province caught in a dreaded loop of financial struggle and on-the-pitch underachievement.
A fortnight ago Munster offered voluntary redundancies to staff as they look for ways to tighten up.
Last Saturday, Clayton McMillan's side slumped to a miserable 31-21 defeat at Exeter Chiefs that ended their hopes in the Challenge Cup.
They are now facing into a scrap to finish in the top eight of the BKT United Rugby Championship to qualify for next season's Champions Cup. Munster are currently seventh in the table, but with morale on the floor, fears are growing they might completely unravel in the coming weeks.
"Look, I think they made an error even before they got on the field (against Exeter)," Donal Lenihan said on RTÉ's Sunday Sport.
"They're a team that's lacking in confidence. They won the toss, they're playing away from home in a gale-force wind and they decide to play against the wind. I mean, the game was over at half time, let's be honest.
"You've got to take every advantage when it's put your way and they didn't do that, but look there's so many things going on in Munster, you'd want to take the week off to go through them.
"I think the heads are down, they're in a very difficult position. They're away in South Africa, they get hammered. They'd difficult travel conditions going out for that first game against the Sharks, they're beaten by 45 points.
"People have stopped travelling to Thomond Park, and opposition go to Thomond Park now with nothing like the trepidation or fear that they had going there years ago."
Lenihan fears there's an apathy seeping into the fanbase as the woes deepen and that poor decision-making off the pitch is why Munster find themselves in such a position.
"(It's been a) very difficult couple of weeks. I feel sorry for the players because I think a lot of this is mismanagement - and I'm not talking about Clayton McMillan, I'm talking about within the whole Munster organisation - that's been going on for a number of years now.
"Cork Con were playing Lansdowne in the last game of the AIL, there was a big crowd up in the clubhouse and everybody's sitting down (to watch the Exeter game)," he added.
"These are genuine rugby supporters both from Lansdowne and Cork Con. They're all sitting down in front of the television and Munster are 14-0 down after eight minutes and people are just looking at each other like, 'what is going on here?'. And this has seeped right across all supporters within Munster.
"They've lost faith in the organisation I would say. People have stopped travelling to Thomond Park, and opposition go to Thomond Park now with nothing like the trepidation or fear that they had going there years ago."
"The bottom line is the IRFU the expectation for all the four provinces is that they break even on an annual basis."
Former Leinster and Ireland hooker Shane Byrne agreed with Lenihan's assertions.
He said: "This has been brewing for lot of years. Mistakes have been made going back four or five plus years and it's just leading to an awful lot of pressure on the players. They must be at sixes and sevens.
"The problems they have are not just on the park. It's structurally right throughout the setup and unfortunately... with the voluntary redundancies, it's affecting the proper employees right throughout the business."
Lenihan also warned that Munster are going to have to sort out their issues themselves. There's now massive pressure on the team to finish the season strongly as some harsh realities hit home.
"The bottom line is the IRFU the expectation for all the four provinces is that they break even on an annual basis," he said.
"The IRFU support them in so many ways.
"Unfortunately it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you're not successful on the field, you don't get to the quarter-finals, you don't get to the rounds of 16, that's more money gone.
"Munster are now under pressure. They're the only Irish province of the four who aren't involved in either Challenge or Champions Cup so the challenge for them now - and there are question marks - is, will they make the top eight in the URC? If they don't they're out of the Champions Cup next year.
"The bottom line with professional sport no matter what it is, is without money and without proper financial structure unfortunately you're not going to be successful. One leads to the other."
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