Munster now in last-chance saloon
With Ulster having secured safe passage with victory over Glasgow on Friday night, delivering a tactical masterclass in atrocious conditions.
For Munster and Leinster, qualification goes down to the wire next weekend with the possibility that one could go through at the expense of the other. With Clermont Auvergne already qualified in Leinster’s pool, the best the holders can hope for is one of the two best runner-up slots. On the presumption that Saracens top Pool 1 with a win over Edinburgh on Sunday, Munster will be in direct competition with their great rivals for one of those precious two slots.
Montpellier host the already qualified Toulon at home and should they win, will also qualify along with their fellow French championship side. A win for Toulouse at Welford Road on Sunday would be a better result for the two Irish sides but a losing bonus point for them means that both they and Biarritz could also reach 19 points. However, with Biarritz hosting Harlequins, that is very unlikely. As a result, Munster and Leinster will need to achieve bonus point wins to hit 20 points.
On the basis of their respective performances over the weekend, it is advantage Leinster at this stage. Level on 15 points at present, if both produce bonus point wins against Exeter Chiefs and Racing Metro respectively, then it will come down to tries scored. Munster are just one ahead of Leinster after Joe Schmidt’s men scored five on Saturday. If they finish level on tries, then points differential will be required to separate them, and Munster hold the advantage there at present on +37 to Leinster’s +19 despite annoyingly conceding 14 points in the final minutes against Edinburgh yesterday.
The big advantage that Munster carry going into the final weekend of pool action is that with Leinster playing on Saturday, Munster will know exactly what they will need to do against Racing the following day.
It should also aid their cause that the French outfit have no chance of qualifying and will more than likely travel understrength, with a Top 14 clash away to Bordeaux Begles only five days later.
That said, on current form, Leinster look more capable of producing a bonus point win away to the Chiefs. As we saw yesterday, when Munster are forced to chase tries for bonus points, they look decidedly uncomfortable. At least they will have a clear vision in advance of kick off what is required.
While there was a marked improvement on the performance compared to the recent Cardiff disappointment, Munster were still very hesitant and inaccurate in their execution in Murrayfield yesterday. Rob Penney is an honourable New Zealander and is true to his word. The coach revealed last week that while he and the team remain committed to evolution, healso confirmed that there was room for compromise on their tacticalapproach.
He said: “I’m open-minded enough to change. If we need to change things, we will. That’s the dynamics of the business. You can’t stand still.”
The evidence presented right from the outset suggested Munster absorbed the lessons from Musgrave Park and were far more direct in their approach, with field position allied to straight running the order of the day.
The disappointment was that once they got into favourable positions, Munster’s lineout accuracy deserted them once again.
In direct contrast to Leinster on Saturday, there appeared to be a lack of clarity as to how Munster should approach this game with a mini-debate taking place every time they were awarded kickable penalties. While the early calls came down in favour of building a score and taking the three points on offer, there was indecision on the stroke of half-time and a crucial opportunity went abegging. Offered a penalty in front of the posts with a nine-point lead, once the decision was not to take the kick, then the option should have been to go for the scrum, where Munster had a marked advantage, rather than a rushed tapped penalty which yielded nothing. On Saturday, Leinster chased tries with positive results and neither Jonny Sexton nor his replacement Ian Madigan opted for a single penalty kick at goal.
Munster’s approach could well have worked for them once the tries started to flow in the third quarter but they lacked the clinical edge of old when it came to converting chances into points on the board. Passes were forced, with cheap knock-ons the outcome, and once again a high error count crippled Munster at crucial times. In addition, the ball carrier was all too often isolated from his support, resulting in a turnover or the concession of a penalty for not releasing.
The farce that surrounded the scrum engagement was also detrimental to Munster’s cause as it wasted a massive amount of game time but never allowed them fully exploit the clear advantage they enjoyed in a crucial area. Munster look like a side lacking in confidence and the swagger and belligerence they carried around with them on their European travels of old has deserted them of late.
The manner with which they collapsed in the closing 10 minutes, conceding two tries to a team that had failed to register a single five-pointer in their previous four Heineken Cup outings, does not augur well for next weekend. I’m not sure why the decision was made to substitute the core of the side at No’s 8, 9 and 10 with 15 minutes left but Munster lost their way at a time when they should have been pushing hard for their four try bonus.
To finish in the manner they did will do nothing for their mental well being for the challenge they face next weekend against a talented but psychologically brittle Racing Metro side but at least Munster can take solace from the fact that they should know exactly what they need to do come lunchtime next Sunday.
On Saturday, Leinster did that was necessary, delivering a crucial bonus point win that takes their challenge for qualification through to their last game against Exeter Chiefs next Saturday. You sensed, however, that while Joe Schmidt was less than satisfied immediately after the game after leaving at least two tries behind, the fact that Munster failed to register a bonus point will offer his charges a massive boost when they report for training this morning. The positives in Saturday’s performance were there for all to see with Luke Fitzgerald outstanding and looking incredibly sharp after his long absence. Rob Kearney also contributed magnificently to a Leinster back line that finally produced the type of incisive running and invention that we have become accustomed to, even if his passing left him down on two occasions with overlaps and tries on offer. The down side, apart from the tries they left behind, was the sight of Brian O’Driscoll hobbling once again, even if the damage was done to his ‘good’ ankle on this occasion. Leinster could do with him next weekend.
