AS THE CROWDS filed out of Thomond Park on Friday night, the immediate verdict on Munster’s 23-7 URC quarter-final defeat of Ospreys seemed to be split between two distinct views.
Many could be heard complimenting a ‘professional’ job after the province added two second-half penalties to two first-half tries to coast home with some ease. Others lamented a second half where the province played the game in the right areas of the field and kicked smartly while rarely threatening to add a third try.
For Graham Rowntree, the read of the game was simple: ‘Job done.’
“We were playing cup rugby, weren’t we? Taking points,” Rowntree said.
We spoke about it, potentially going three, six, nine. Knockout rugby. It’s not been our philosophy all season but it felt right tonight.”
It might not have been the most exhilarating night at Thomond but it was hard to argue against Munster’s approach. Against an Ospreys side who brought plenty of fight but carried little attacking threat after half-time, Munster did enough to keep their visitors at arms’ length and book their place in the semi-finals. The province can now look forward to a semi-final date with Glasgow Warriors at 6pm in Limerick on Saturday, with a home URC final on the line.
Having won the competition away from home last year, the group have acknowledged how special it would be to defend their title in front of their home fans.
“We want to do it for the fans who couldn’t make it to Cape Town and to Leinster,” Rowntree said. “It’s important. You can feel the vibe of this place in knockout rugby.”
Knockout rugby is all about winning and if Munster can defend their URC on home soil this season, their supporters won’t care one jot how they do it. The province are currently on their best winning run in the league (10 games) since the title winning 2010/11 season.
Saturday was the second week running where Munster left the pitch feeling they have areas to improve, and against Glasgow they will look to be more accurate in the 22 having been repeatedly frustrated on the Ospreys line early in the second half – failing to score a try after halftime.
“They were chancing their arm there, which I would do as well. We’ll have a look at that,” Rowntree said.
“A bit more composure, guys going off on their own, doing things on their own. We don’t speak about doing that, we’ll have a good look at that. And we had a knock-on there, we got penalised at scrum but then we came back. We came back with some key penalties immediately after that where we took points and settled everything down, but I thought tactically, kicking-wise as well, we were good that second half and defended well.
We’ve got the best defence in the league and that was shown tonight. Guys just getting up off the floor, working for each other.”
Rowntree wasn’t aware of any fresh injury concerns after the game and feels centre Alex Nankivell will ‘probably’ be available for Saturday’s meeting with Glasgow.
All in all, it was stress-free night compared to the previous weekend’s defeat of Ulster, where Munster lost Tom Ahern, Joey Carbery and Rory Scannell to season-ending injuries.
It means Carbery has played his last game for Munster, while Rowntree confirmed Ahern is set for surgery this week and Scannell’s injury could rule him out for the early stages of next season.
“Their seasons are over, unfortunately. It’s no way for Joey to finish his Munster career, I feel for the kid.
“The way Joey got himself back with his performance, and Rory has just been a soldier for us. He didn’t get much of a look-in in South Africa, he trained every day and actually played well when he’s had his time in the field, Edinburgh, notably, and last week in particular. In these type of operations it could be four months, it could be six months, it could be longer.
“And Tom, what a season Tom has had. There’s a light really gone on in him in terms of that six role and playing on the edge of the field.
“You’re never not disappointed to lose players of their calibre.”
