Defensive frailties cost us, says Gaffney

THE CRESTFALLEN expression on his ashen countenance told it all about the deep disappointment of Munster coach Alan Gaffney.

He wasn't making excuses for Munster's latest Heineken Cup disappointment even if he did feel that some of the penalties deliberately conceded by Wasps bordered on the cynical and that they might have accrued more than two yellow cards. The loss of Ronan O'Gara clearly hurt the side badly but Gaffney accepted in the final analysis that the game was there for the taking but that defensive frailties, so evident in the semi-final win over Stade Francais, again cost the side dearly.

"We knew Wasps were a side capable of scoring tries and we missed too many first-up tackles", said Gaffney. "We got ten in front and the game was there to be won but you can't miss first-up tackles against a side like Wasps. We allowed them to gain momentum which was our critical aim to stop. We were unsuccessful in doing so in the last twelve or thirteen minutes. We needed to slow the game down but allowed Howley to keep the ball in play and counterattack."

Jim Williams was equally candid. Having preferred to fend off a question about whether this was his Heineken Cup appearance for Munster ("I'll have a few beers tonight and think about the future in the morning"), the skipper, who had to wear the number seven jersey in David Wallace's much lamented absence, didn't pull his punches.

"We have only ourselves to blame", he accepted. "We talked about discipline but we let them back into the game. Wasps play very good pressure rugby and I think Munster are still learning to play that way. Far too many guys are trying to master it. Wasps kept coming at us and we just didn't get the basics right. Our defence was still a problem."

That, if anything, was something of an understatement so I asked Alan Gaffney why the holes so clearly evident in midfield against Stade still hadn't been plugged after two weeks of intense work in this department. You suspected he knew deep down where it had gone wrong but confined himself to replying: "I think there was more than the midfield to it. Blaming it on the midfield defence is being a little bit harsh. We can't just blame these guys, people have to work from the inside out. We were caught short in numbers much too often."

Having pondered the shortcomings a little further, Gaffney accepted: "We did get caught in midfield but then we got caught around the fringes as well."

As for Wasps preference for infringing allowing Munster to build up the phases, Gaffney was emphatic: "Obviously, it's a cynical way to play a game. You find yourselves in a situation where you can't develop anything. I thought we put in a lot of very good play in the first half and we got the penalty decisions and kicked the goals. But it's very hard to develop your game when that kind of situation is developing."

And then came the punchline from the coach: "To finish up with two yellow cards well, it squared the ledger, I suppose." There could be no argument about the sin binning of Rob Henderson but Donnacha O'Callaghan is a different matter and Gaffney seemed to have a case when he observed: "I would have thought yellow cards were dished out for persistent infringements which was not the case here."

Jim Williams added that when the referee Nigel Williams binned the second Wasps player, Fraser Waters, he warned that the next Munster player caught would also spend ten minutes cooling off.

Jim Williams revealed that he talked to Mr Williams about this and was told he 'was working with his touch judges'.

"That's pressure rugby, they're bordering on the line, and if they get away with it, they get away with it, and you can't blame them for that.

The big question last night was whether Munster could come back from this latest setback. Gaffney realises it may be difficult to lift them one more time and also acknowledges that strengthening his squad won't be easy given the number of money laden clubs in France and England. But he added: "That question has been raised for the past four years and yet they've done it again. There's no reason to suspect they can't do it in the future. They have a lot of courage and pride in what they do. There are a lot of players on the market way beyond the kind of money we could entertain."