RUGBY NEVER STOPS being a game about taking your chances.
We saw that again tonight in Thomond Park as Leinster marched to a bonus-point win and Munster came away from their home festive inter-pro with nothing.
Ian Costello, Munster’s interim head coach, summed up a feisty battle in the simplest terms possible.
“They had five chances five metres out from the line, they took four,” said Costello after his side’s 28-7 defeat.
“We had four quick taps and a five-metre lineout and converted one.
Costello added that the Munster’s scrum was under pressure throughout, with five penalty concessions in that area.
“If you’re off in any area against Leinster, unfortunately you can be on the end of a scoreline like that,” he said.
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“It’s pretty frustrating based on some of the positive elements of our performance, unfortunately.”
It felt like a rather familiar night in Thomond Park, where Leinster made it six wins in a row against Munster.
With a host of their Ireland international returning, the men in blue were powerful and punchy in contact while making big gains in the set-piece.
Munster battered the Leinster tryline for a 15-minute spell in the first half to no avail, even with Leinster’s Tommy O’Brien sin-binned, before the visitors marched down the other end and scored their second try through out-half Sam Prendergast.
Having trailed 14-0 at the break, Munster did manage to make a strong start to the second half as Tom Ahern crossed for what proved to be their only try but Leinster responded swiftly with a third score through Josh van der Flier. It was a key moment in the game.
“Yeah, it was because I felt we counter-rucked it and had gotten the ball back,” said Costello. “So there’s a bit of confusion around that, it was a big swing.
“To be fair to them, they brought a lot of power off the bench in the last 20 minutes, they were very, very strong, very impressive.”
Costello was asked if Munster received feedback on that moment before van der Flier’s try when it appeared they had earned a turnover only for a Leinster player to pop the ball off the ground.
“No idea,” said Costello. “It happened twice in the game, don’t know. We counter-rucked, new offside line, my understanding is you can’t pick the ball up and score, you know. Anyway, that’s just a moment or two in the game.”
Indeed, Munster had no gripes about the outcome on a night where Leinster’s international quality showed.
Costello was keen to point to a few positives but he wasn’t sugar-coating this defeat.
“Last week [against Ulster], our ball retention was poor and some areas of our attack that are usually strong were off. I know we got four really good tries but we had 30% possession.
“It was closer to 50% tonight and still made errors but I thought our intent was good. You would have seen that we looked to kick early and we looked to turn them, get the crowd into the game. We put a lot of emphasis on our kick chase and got some great return out of that.
“Unlucky that one kick went dead but we had a particular change-up to the way we were playing and I suppose as positive as that was, if we don’t convert when we get within five metres of the line against a side like Leinster, then they convert when they’re five metres out, that can be immaterial.
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'It's pretty frustrating' - Munster rue missed chances against Leinster
RUGBY NEVER STOPS being a game about taking your chances.
We saw that again tonight in Thomond Park as Leinster marched to a bonus-point win and Munster came away from their home festive inter-pro with nothing.
Ian Costello, Munster’s interim head coach, summed up a feisty battle in the simplest terms possible.
“They had five chances five metres out from the line, they took four,” said Costello after his side’s 28-7 defeat.
“We had four quick taps and a five-metre lineout and converted one.
Costello added that the Munster’s scrum was under pressure throughout, with five penalty concessions in that area.
“If you’re off in any area against Leinster, unfortunately you can be on the end of a scoreline like that,” he said.
“It’s pretty frustrating based on some of the positive elements of our performance, unfortunately.”
It felt like a rather familiar night in Thomond Park, where Leinster made it six wins in a row against Munster.
With a host of their Ireland international returning, the men in blue were powerful and punchy in contact while making big gains in the set-piece.
Munster battered the Leinster tryline for a 15-minute spell in the first half to no avail, even with Leinster’s Tommy O’Brien sin-binned, before the visitors marched down the other end and scored their second try through out-half Sam Prendergast.
Having trailed 14-0 at the break, Munster did manage to make a strong start to the second half as Tom Ahern crossed for what proved to be their only try but Leinster responded swiftly with a third score through Josh van der Flier. It was a key moment in the game.
“Yeah, it was because I felt we counter-rucked it and had gotten the ball back,” said Costello. “So there’s a bit of confusion around that, it was a big swing.
“To be fair to them, they brought a lot of power off the bench in the last 20 minutes, they were very, very strong, very impressive.”
Costello was asked if Munster received feedback on that moment before van der Flier’s try when it appeared they had earned a turnover only for a Leinster player to pop the ball off the ground.
“No idea,” said Costello. “It happened twice in the game, don’t know. We counter-rucked, new offside line, my understanding is you can’t pick the ball up and score, you know. Anyway, that’s just a moment or two in the game.”
Indeed, Munster had no gripes about the outcome on a night where Leinster’s international quality showed.
Costello was keen to point to a few positives but he wasn’t sugar-coating this defeat.
“Last week [against Ulster], our ball retention was poor and some areas of our attack that are usually strong were off. I know we got four really good tries but we had 30% possession.
“It was closer to 50% tonight and still made errors but I thought our intent was good. You would have seen that we looked to kick early and we looked to turn them, get the crowd into the game. We put a lot of emphasis on our kick chase and got some great return out of that.
“Unlucky that one kick went dead but we had a particular change-up to the way we were playing and I suppose as positive as that was, if we don’t convert when we get within five metres of the line against a side like Leinster, then they convert when they’re five metres out, that can be immaterial.
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