AFTER A SOMEWHAT sluggish opening 10 minutes where the two teams settled into the new season, Munster and Connacht shook off the summer cobwebs as they rumbled through an explosive round one interpro derby at Thomond Park on Saturday.
Connacht were a joy to watch, full of energy and invention in attack while bringing a notable physicality to their contact work, before some costly defensive lapses resulted in Pete Wilkins’ men ending up on the wrong side of the result despite scoring 33 points away from home.
Munster, for their part, took a little longer to get a handle on the contest, and the video review of their first-half performance will contain some uncomfortable moments.
However, once they found their rhythm there was much to like. In the Munster midfield, centre Alex Nankivell led their charge, dragging his team into the game with his hard running lines and sharp handling. Beside him, debutant Tom Farrell looked hungry for work against his old team, adding some beautiful touches with ball-in-hand.
Craig Casey steered his team excellently in the second period, Gavin Coombes enjoyed some big, dominant moments after a mixed start, and replacement out-half Tony Butler slotted two nerveless pressure conversions from the sideline.
As a starting point for the long season ahead, the 35-33 win had enough to encourage Graham Rowntree while his copybook will also contain plenty of notes to keep his players busy on the training pitch this week.
The end result was particularly pleasing given Munster’s lead-in to the new campaign. While Connacht opted for three pre-season games, which perhaps factored into their sharper start in Limerick, Munster felt two pre-season games would oil their wheels sufficiently. With that in mind Saturday was all about result over performance, and Rowntree hopes his team feel the benefits of that pre-season planning as the weeks progress.
“We did have a short pre-season, for good reason,” Rowntree said.
“We’ve got to look after the lads. I’m chuffed with the work we’ve done, we’ve not been soft in pre-season but it will stand to us when we get to the darker days around Christmas. We’ve got a lot in the bank.
“They’ve [Connacht] had three games. I wouldn’t have wanted the third game, just the risk of injuries… it really stretches your squad. It’s good to know that we’ve got plenty in the tank.”
“There’s stuff to work on there,” added Diarmuid Barron, who captained Munster on the day.
The hooker saw Munster lose two lineouts in the opening minutes but the home side managed to turn the setpiece into a weapon as the game progressed, with the lineout proving the launching pad for two of their three second-half tries.
“I think both individually and as a collective, I know there was one [lineout] there that I probably undercooked, but we regathered our composure well around it. We had a slow start, but as the game went on we were very accurate. It’s a good sign, I think, when we can regather what we’re doing and move on.
“I’m proud of it [the resolve we showed], I think, like the lineout, we fixed a lot on the go.
“Games like that can get away from you pretty quickly. In saying that, I thought we showed a lot of promise and it was that last pass, that last error that let us down. Showing a bit more composure was the thing and we showed that in the latter stages of the game, I’m very proud of that.”
That composure as a team has been a big focus during Rowntree’s tenure. Instead of allowing errors play on the mind and feed into the next play, Munster try to park such moments and reset. That was evident a number of times on Saturday, as Munster responded to conceding by going down the other end and putting some points of their own on the scoreboard.
In total, the lead changed seven times before Munster claimed a two-point victory.
“In the last three campaigns we showed that [composure] pretty well,” said Barron.
“Not to go to the past too much, but we showed that on the road out there two years ago [on the path to winning the URC], last year… in terms of our season, to bring that back to a place where we finished the league in first was an achievement. That showed quite a bit of resolve.
“I think we are getting better at it still; not putting ourselves in those positions is the other side of it, but we’re getting pretty good at it.”
It was far from perfect, but Munster are up and running with a bonus-point win.
Rowntree should get an update on Billy Burns today, with a shoulder injury forcing the out-half off after 54 minutes against Connacht.
The province’s plans for Saturday’s URC trip to Zebre will also be impacted by the Emerging Ireland tour, with Rowntree to lose eight players from his squad for rounds two through four of the URC.
Sean Edogbo, Ronan Foxe, Alex Kendellen, Evan O’Connell, Danny Sheahan, Ethan Coughlan, Sean O’Brien and Ben O’Connor are all set to link up with the travelling Emerging Ireland party this week.
“I said to the lads, when it was announced last Thursday, I’m proud of them lads,” said Rowntree.
“They’re not going to come back worse players, we saw that two years’ ago. It will be good for them to work with those coaches in different environments. You’ve got to do that anyway, the whole season with injuries you’re testing your depth and it’s happening a bit earlier now. It can only be good for our club.
“I’ve not much more to say on that, it will be good for us in the long run. Two years ago proved that.”
