Penney: We identified weaknesses

Munster coach Rob Penney has revealed how the stirring win over Toulouse was achieved by a combination of in-depth planning and near perfect on-field execution.

Penney admitted the Munster backroom staff felt they had identified weaknesses in the Toulouse defensive system but still had to rely on the players to execute the plan of assault.

“Teams don’t normally have the ability to change their defensive structures in game,” he said. “The pictures we were seeing on a really consistent basis were exactly what we thought we would see and we primed the players all week there would be opportunities.

“Just being able to take them was the key and I think the proof was in the pudding. They had a lot of confidence; they looked like a footie team that has a lot confidence.”

Paul O’Connell is still trying to figure out where that confidence came from, especially given the background of a loss to Leinster the previous week.

“It’s hard to know where that performance came from. I suppose it’s just we’ve not been capable of producing it week in and week out. I just felt last week we were toothless at times and we couldn’t get the ball off them. It’s not a great landscape to go into a match against Toulouse. We were in a similar situation against Glasgow last season [before a quarter-final against Harlequins], but even though we conceded some silly tries we produced good rugby.

“I felt we got shut out [against Leinster] and it was a tough place to be. Sometimes you just need to remind yourself of how good you can be when you get your heads right. When you get the simple things right, which we did early on, it helps. The mauls, the lineout success, the scrum penalties, Keats getting his kicks. You’d be surprised at how those things accumulate into something much bigger.”

That accumulation produced no less than six tries, one of them from O’Connell in the dying seconds. It was a source of delight on both counts.

“To come up out of rucks and watch backs sliding in at the corner, you just walk back to half-way, it’s a great feeling. That’s what our back three can do, there’s some incredible talent there. It was great to get a try but I was looking at the clock and hoping it would be over to be honest. It’s not often I get on the scoresheet and there was some great footwork from JJ [Hanrahan] to put me in.”

So, can a performance like this be replicated?

“I’d like to think so, we’ll need to. You’d hate to think you’d need a performance like that against Leinster in order to produce it again. That’s where Leinster have been so good over the past few years, they’ve been able to produce those big performances no matter what the competition is, no matter what team is picked. That’s where we need to get to.”

Penney, meanwhile, quietly hopes Munster can reach for the stars. “It’s a long way to go. This team is capable of winning silverware but you need to have a bit of luck with injuries. There’s also another tough competition going on alongside it for us. We’re capable of winning it, no doubt about that. We’re a good enough side to do it, but whether we do it or not I can’t say because there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge yet.”