JOHANN VAN GRAAN admitted his Munster team made too many mistakes to deserve victory as they were beaten 25-18 by Cardiff Blues yesterday.
The visitors produced a poor first-half display as tries from Macauley Cook, Lloyd Williams and Owen Lane put the Blues 19-5 up at the break. Munster never recovered despite moving the score back to 19-15 after Stephen Fitzgerald added to Chris Cloete’s earlier effort.
Tyler Bleyendaal’s penalty with the last kick of the game did secure a losing bonus point, but Van Graan wasn’t happy with what he’d seen.
“The first half most definitely cost us the game. When you play away from home and you’re 19-0 down, you can’t be expected to win the game,” said Munster’s South African head coach.
“The disappointing thing was that it was all our own errors. Credit to the team because at half-time we reassessed and said that it wasn’t good enough.
“I thought we did well to come back to within one score at 19-15 and we had a couple of opportunities to get in front, but didn’t use them. At the end to come away with a losing bonus point, I think I’ll take that.”
Cook, Williams and Lane all scored within eight minutes as Munster kicked the ball dead, had clearances charged down and lost two line-outs.
After the break Van Graan’s men were better and Fitzgerald dived over following a yellow card for Blues hooker Matthew Rees. But two late penalties from home out-half Jarrod Evans sealed Munster’s demise even though Bleyendaal did salvage something right at the end.
“The mood of the squad is disappointment. We came here to win even though we always knew Cardiff were a good side,” Van Graan said. “The disappointing thing for us is we didn’t make them work very hard. It was our own errors and they were basic errors.
“I don’t think it was a slow start. In the first eight minutes we played very well, we had a kick at goal and missed that and then we had a charge-down and kicked one ball straight into touch. It’s not that we lost the territory battle or the possession battle.”
Defeat in Cardiff means Munster have now fallen 16 points behind rivals Glasgow Warriors at the top of Conference A of the Guinness Pro14.
The Scottish side are next up for Van Graan’s men on Friday. Munster must improve from their display in the Welsh capital against the Warriors or go down to another reversal.
“There are no serious injuries, just a few bumps and bruises but nothing too serious,” Van Graan said. “Glasgow are playing fantastic rugby. You only had to look at their performance against the Cheetahs on Friday night to see that and they’ve only lost once all season in the Pro14.
“We’re coming up against the best team in the Pro14 on Friday night so we’ll have to improve and that’s what we’re planning on doing this week. We’ll look at this game emotionally and then come back in on Monday and start again at zero.”
There was bound to be a blip or two somewhere in the season. Some of the players from yesterday need to have a good look at themselves. Not the end of the world though. We are still in a good place considering the mid season change of coach.
@Jim Demps: 9 wins and 6 defeats isn’t exactly glittering form. Running into a pivotal part of the league with some tough fixtures coming, good thing is the results of other teams in pool A means even the worst implosion will still see Munster get a playoff birth. But which is better Edinburgh/Ulster at Home and Leinster/Scarlett’s away semi or finish 3rd get away to Leinster/Scarlett’s and away to Glasgow semi.
@Scott Crossfield: not glittering but it’ll do. Doesn’t matter who we play in the knockouts, we are capable of beating all of them.
@Jim Demps: when full sides in action Munster need second place as they will not beat Scarlets and possibly. It Leinster away yet alone away semi. But ah sure we can beat anyone aside the next few weeks will show where they’re at and ways needed
The heading should be “best team in conference A”. They are top of conference A. Leinster are top of conference B and Llanelli are the reigning champions.
@Gary: it was Johann who said it not the author, take off your blue tinted glasses he’s not wrong..
@Gary: Well considering that Glasgow have amassed more points than any otherPro14 team in either conference this season (65 points), having won 13 out of 15 games, they are statistically the best team of the Pro14 on form.
@Hardly Normal: So saying Llanelli are reigning champions and saying Leinster are top of conference B means I’ve blue tinted glasses? OKayyyyy. So stating facts is wrong then. Hmm.
@Gary: he’s not wrong. Glasgow have the most points out of both conferences.
@Gary: spot on Gary
@Gary: Llanelli play in the Welsh Premiership and are not even the reigning champions, Merthyr RFC are. Think you mean the Scarlets?
@Martin Quinn: Haha , I should change that , I’m in league country now, (new south wales). About the pools , I’d have thought they were fairly even to be honest, can’t see much between the two.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: well seeing that Glasgow are out of Europe they are not the best team but they do have the most points
@Bob Joe: This article refers to the best team in the Pro14, not Europe. Europe and Pro14 are different worlds intensity-wise. Stay on topic, fella.
Here we go again.” Keatley is useless” brigade are back. The same people who were praising him a few weeks ago. My oh my how fickle the keyboard warriors are
@Chris Tobin: I’ve been saying from the start of the season that he’s improved a lot but he still makes poor decisions in the opposition 22 and is good for an error or two in a game! Was terrible yesterday but in fairness going on form this season that’s out of the ordinary for him. Shouldn’t be in the 6 Nations squad. Byrne at Leinster offers more and Carbury could be a world beater if he was getting game time at 10!
@Chris Tobin: There’s been so many seasons of it… in all that time nothing much has changed. He’s a great player on his day, in terms of winning the Pro 14, maybe, winning Europe, maybe not, (Munsters’ heart has always been firmly set on Europe). It’s a professional game and even when it wasn’t the pre-internet chatter has always been super critical, those who are involved know it. Add todays ‘chatroom factor’ and honestly it could be a whole lot worse.
They all seemed asleep. I remember Rhys Marshall standing by a ruck with his hands on his hips when he should have been blocking and that was quickly followed by a try
@Peter Brophy: should hammer Glasgow as most of their team in Scotland squad
Pretty basic errors by the coaching staff who allowed some underperforming players remain on the pitch for too long . Allied to An inability to change tactics contributed to a very poor night -
Why are Munster turning their attention to Leinster when they are playing Glasgow next?
Munster have no future with Keatley at 10. His performance in the first half was the worst I’ve seen at professional level in a very very long time. He simply killed the team.
@Brian Valès: Brian, I don’t where your loyalties lie but I doubt if you are a Munster supporter. Anyone watching Ian Keatley this season cannot but be impressed by how well he has played, but you know it only took one game for the knives to come out. I do not see anyone looking for Carbery’s head in the his 10 minute malfunction against Italy or the defence weaknesses by his colleagues. God help us against Wales if we have George North running against some our new apprentices.
Keatley and Williams were terrible yesterday. Some of keatleys kicks were absolute rubbish.
@David OfBrien: in fairness the whole team were dire on the night
@David OfBrien: and yet some folk think Keats should be backup to Sexton
@Marcodub: #keatleyhaters
Yet another example of Munster not showing up for the first half of a game. We done it several times already this season, most notably Home and Away to Leinster. Can see no excuse for not being mentally ready for a game of rugby and to me it usually happens when a certain 4/5 players are selected together. Johann has said it now at least 3 times that these performances are not acceptable but yet they continue to happen. How many times does Duncan Williams need to have a kick blocked before he or a coach address the issue???? He is not good enough to back up Murray, never will be, play Hart or give young Poland a real chance.
No leaders on the field, would have had Holland as captain.
@thesaltyurchin: Holland needed a break, he’s played in almost every game in Europe and the Pro 14 so far this season.
The Cardiff Blues game was a total malfunction by the whole team on Saturday evening.
Let no blame hang on any one individual, just suck it for what it was and get over it.If ever we needed a response , let us see it Friday night.
The whole team were off. Can’t blame a few players only. We’ve seen some great plays from Keatley and Williams this season. Williams needs more consistency but he also needs players ready to provide support and watching the game.