THERE WILL BE a new name etched onto the URC trophy next weekend and after holders Munster were beaten at home by a spirited Glasgow Warriors side in today’s semi-final at Thomond Park, Graham Rowntree had no complaints with the outcome.
The Munster boss admitted Glasgow were worthy winners after they claimed a 17-10 victory in Limerick, with the province’s frustrations focused around their own shortcomings on the day.
Munster went into the game on the back of a 10-game winning run in the URC, which saw them top the league table and see off the challenge of Ospreys in the quarter-finals.
Yet they couldn’t make the most of their home advantage in this semi-final, with Munster’s accuracy and discipline letting them down as the prospect of a home URC final slipped from their grasp.
The defeat means that Simon Zebo, RG Snyman and Antoine Frisch have all played their last game in a Munster jersey – while the injured Joey Carbery is also moving on this summer.
“It’s going to take a while for that to sink in,” said Rowntree.
“Hugely frustrating, you get yourself in a position, home semi-final and then the game got away from us.
“It’s about taking opportunities, using the possession and territory that we had. We didn’t take our opportunities.
They got the tries that they did without having to do much, to be honest with you, it was just the freak nature of the tries and then we tried a bit too hard near the try-line.
“Credit to them, they were tenacious tonight, were Glasgow. I just said to the group there, we are saying goodbye to some big names who deserve better if I am honest with you.
“It will take a while to sink in. I am proud of how we finished the season, where we got to and the style of play. As I say, you earn yourself a home semi and it’s just frustrating, hugely frustrating.”
The province’s attack struggled today with the home side limited to just one Jack Crowley penalty and a converted Antoine Frisch try. Rowntree felt his players needed to be more composed when in the Warriors 22.
“That’s a composure piece with the players. We speak about one more ruck rather than an offload, which is brilliant if it comes off, you go ‘what a cracking offload!’ But we were just a bit guilty of forcing things a bit too much.”
Munster captain Tadhg Beirne echoed Rowntree’s sentiments, lamenting the province’s lack of accuracy with ball in hand.
“You can’t fault the effort of any of the lads, we stuck in it, were in it right to end,” said Beirne.
“You’ve got to give credit to Glasgow, they defended unbelievably well. Similar to last week [against the Ospreys], we just didn’t take our chances when we got inside the 22.
“We had a few opportunities there to come away with some points and unfortunately we didn’t, we gave away penalties or knock-ons or just silly errors which probably crept into our game a little bit over the last couple of weeks unfortunately and as Wig [Rowntree] said we were probably trying too hard and just needed to take a moment and slow the ball down a touch to get back into our shape and go from there.
“But you can’t fault Glasgow’s effort because they defended unbelievably well and they stopped us. Some teams haven’t been able to stop us from that far out but they were, so credit to them.”
