McGahan must find quick-fix solutions

On a bleak night for Munster, Tony McGahan will be cheered by the fact that injured trio Paul O’Connell, Donnacha Ryan and Conor Murray remain on course to feature in Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Ulster.

The coach is equally confident that Keith Earls and BJ Botha, both of whom picked up rib injuries in Saturday’s defeat to Leinster, will be fit for next weekend while Denis Hurley and David Wallace also remain in contention to make the squad.

However, McGahan had precious little to enthuse about in the wake of a 9-18 loss to Leinster.

He admitted: “We were pretty much second best in all areas. The set piece was an area that denied us any platform to play from; I don’t know if we had a line out to play off for the whole game; certainly the scrum, where both sides were conceding penalties, didn’t allow us much either.

“Against Leinster particularly it’s very difficult to get yourself in the game and consequently we ended up playing off scraps.”

McGahan is, however, hopeful of reaping some benefit from playing against such high quality opposition a week out from a crucial European tie.

“You had two very good sides going at it, the game was a bit slow in the first half but gathered momentum in the second in terms of intensity. We have a lot to work on, and it gives us a real call to attention in terms of where we are.

“From here on there are no second chances. We need to get that realisation very quickly and heed the enormity of where we’re at. You had two sides with players who know one another well; the scrums can be a lottery at times, you saw how Nigel Owens lost his cool and sin-binned Marcus (Horan) and Mike (Ross). It was difficult to play off (the scrums).”

McGahan insisted that defeat to Leinster wouldn’t change his opinion of Ulster and the threat they pose.

“I’ve said all along that we have a huge respect for Ulster, where they’ve come from and where they are at present. Their performances over the last couple of seasons and particularly this year, makes them the real deal. It’s interesting I suppose in that neither side has played one another at full strength for quite a while. It certainly will mean we won’t have quite the same familiarity as we would against say Leinster. We’ve put a big emphasis on the Heineken Cup this season, certainly our league form has been inconsistent, so it will be all hands to the wheel next week.”

He may be heartened by comments from Leinster’s coach Joe Schmidt, who figures Munster will benefit by the return of key injured players.

“I sympathise with Tony who had a few guys out. We were bringing experience off the bench while he had raw young guys who brought enthusiasm but I think the experience in the last 20 minutes allowed us to dominate.

“Both sides were anxious to get a good hit-out, it was very physical and I took a bit of pride in the way the lads stuck to their task. When it got to 9-9 we were able to ratchet it up a bit and allow us to breathe a little more easily although you never get to breathe easily in Thomond Park. There were a couple of other half chances out there, we got very close to scoring a couple more times so from that perspective we created positive phases of play.”