Quinlan: the excuses end now
“We expect ourselves this Saturday to cut out the silly errors and get a performance. We’re hopeful we can. It won’t be for the lack of effort.
“Treviso beating Perpignan was probably the best thing that could happen, because it means we won’t underestimate them — and the public and the press won’t underestimate them either. Against Montauban last year we were probably a bit pedestrian, a bit lackadaisical going into the game, which wouldn’t be like us, but certainly not this time.”
Munster are in the market for a win after two losses on the trot, as Quinlan freely admits.
“After two defeats we need a good performance from somewhere. There’s some frustration in the group — we nearly got there in some facets last week, but we still made mistakes. There’s a good work ethic within the group and everyone’s trying their best to do put it right.
“In the last couple of years we’ve raised the bar, the competition’s getting stronger and teams don’t underestimate us. The Northampton coach was quoted last week as saying it was the best his players had their best performance of the season.
“And that’s what we have to cope with. It’s a mark of respect for us, that we’ve won two Heineken Cups and take us seriously. In the early days we were the team which was shocking the bigger teams, if you like.
“Without making excuses, there has been disruption among personnel but excuses have to finish now.”
There’s one difference, of course: Munster are at home this weekend.
“The standard is getting harder and it’s probably harder now to win on the road,” says Quinlan. “A couple of years ago we caught teams on the hop and beat them away. That doesn’t happen any more.
“We don’t want to look too far back but the Leinster game was disappointing — we were outmuscled and outplayed but there was an improvement against Northampton. Apart from a few mistakes we could have won the game, and if it had gone on another five or ten minutes I’m sure we could have won the game.”
Quinlan accepts Munster have had issues with their set-piece, though that’s not the reason they went for a tap and go late on against Northampton last week.
“I don’t think we went for that (the tap and go) because the scrum was in trouble, it was just the decision that was made. I think there was a bit of a breakdown in communication with the referee, whether he’d allow a scrum or not, so it wasn’t a decision not to go for a scrum.
“It’s been disappointing; if you don’t have a good set-piece you’ll be on the back foot. Against Leinster the scrum and line-out were under pressure, and that makes it hard for the backs. They got some better ball last week but we have to keep working on the set piece — I can’t quite put my finger on what’s been going wrong, maybe the personnel changes, but it’s frustrated us.”
He agrees that Ronan O’Gara has suffered as a result.
“Rog has come in for stick in recent weeks but realistically the set piece possession we’ve given him hasn’t been good enough.
“We need to give the backs better ball from the middle and back of the line-out instead of having to win it at two and then getting pulled down, as happened against Leinster. Lots of teams are trying to stop us winning ball at the back and the middle, but we improved at that last week.
“The scrums were better too, but there were still a couple that were under pressure. We have to work hard, and work with what we have. John (Hayes) is out but Mushy (Tony Buckley) has come in and done well. Jerry (Flannery) is out now, and that’s been another disruption, but Denis (Fogarty) has come in and done well.”
Quinlan also sets recent results in context with the benefit of over ten years’ experience with the province.
“Emotions were running high after the (Northampton) game, and it was a frustrated dressing-room because we knew we’d left a few things behind us. But when we weighed up the Treviso result it didn’t look that bad.
“The away bonus point meant we weren’t in a bad place, but losing two games on the trot can dip the confidence. Our aim is to get a win at any cost and to improve the confidence.
“There’s a lot to play for yet. If we beat Treviso, and then pick up a home win over Perpignan, it’d put us in a good position.
“It’s a different mentality when you come from a situation when you’re used to winning a lot for a couple of years. Losing two on the trot is probably new territory, but it’s not a crisis scenario. We have too much experience to feel sorry for ourselves.”
Which doesn’t mean they’re not frustrated: “We know we can play a lot better. That’s probably the frustrating thing, that we’re not gelling together as a team, but we haven’t had our players.
“Now, if we don’t perform today, certainly it could turn into more than frustration.”
So, a performance or a win, or both?
“If we’re being selfish we want to improve our performance. It’s a cup game, that’s the way we’re looking at it, so we want the win, but we’d love a good performance to get a good feeling back in the group, have a positive scenario for supporters.
“In an ideal world we’d have the performance and the win, but we have to win — it’s just not an option for us to lose. That’s been hammered home to us and we know as a group to have any chance of progressing, we have to win.”
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