MUNSTER HEAD COACH Graham Rowntree said it was great to get World Cup winner RG Snyman back on the pitch after his injury nightmare.
And while the concession of five second-half tries left Munster hanging on in Cork, the boss said there was much to take from their fifth URC win in-a-row.
Snyman came on after 63 minutes and had a busy cameo as Munster tried to keep a remarkable Scarlets rally at bay.
“He’s been magnificent the last 18 months in how he’s handled various disappointments on and off the field,” said Rowntree.
“I’m proud of him. He’s so important for the group, he’s in our leadership group, the lads love him. You saw it when he came on.
“It was pleasing to see him get on the field.”
The victory keeps up the serious momentum built up in the URC since Christmas and keeps Munster firmly on track heading into the business end of the season.
“A game of two halves… Glad, glad to get out of that game with a bonus-point, and a bonus-point win,” added Rowntree.
“We had a challenging week as a club for multiple reasons. The game freed up a bit in that third quarter, we didn’t help ourselves, and we had quite a few changes, including people playing out of position.
“We’re learning about people as well, youngsters, there’s a few guys there who haven’t played a lot of rugby, who are learning.
“Let’s not take it away from Scarlets, they can play. We previewed all week their form and how dangerous they are if you kick poorly to them, or kick loosely to them, how dangerous they can be on the edge of the field, and they have a couple of big, rangy forwards who can carry the ball and offload, and that’s what we saw in that 50 minutes onwards, you’re hanging on at the end of the game thinking, ‘Crikey, it’s got to this?’, but it had.”
RG’s return was a massive morale booster for Munster, after they have had to:
- Release Chris Farrell, after the legality of what’s been going on with him off the pitch.
- Lost a legend in Brian O’Brien.
- Are soon about to be taken to court by Tony Buckley.
Not the ideal scenarios they were placed with, and yet in spite all of that, they’ve risen above and won a massive game with a massive Springbok back in the mix after the extreme hardship of nearly two seasons on the sidelines. What a turbulent season this has been for Munster. But they’ll keep on going and never give in.
Welcome back RG!
@Criiochúr Daniel Daithí O’Chathail: you forgot Tom Tierneys funeral as well this week.
@Adam O’Sullivan: Indeed I did. Very sad news as well. :(