Denis Hurley already targeting next season

After being outplayed from first whistle to last and losing emphatically on the Kingspan Stadium scoreboard, Munster were in no position to make excuses for Saturday night’s Guinness Pro 12 at the hands of an outstanding Glasgow Warriors side.

Denis Hurley, who has done a superb job all season as captain of the side on a number of occasions while settling into the once unfamiliar centre role with aplomb, accepted the realities of the situation but is certainly not despondent about the province’s hopes next season.

“It’s certainly not the end of the world”, he declared.

“To get to the final has been great. Obviously, we would have expected a lot more of ourselves today but in fairness Glasgow got on the scoreboard quite early. They’re a dangerous team. Parts of their offloading game really killed us at times, they opened up a lot of space and their defence was very good on top of that.

“It was hard to break them down. So, we were chasing the game too early and that’s probably where we lost it.” When his centre partner Andrew Smith burst over for a try moments before the interval, Hurley felt that the tide was beginning to turn and the Munster dressing-room was full of optimism at the break.

“We weren’t dead and buried just because they were after putting three tries on us. The mood at half time was quite good as regards being able to pick ourselves up and say we are still in the game, eleven points down, it’s still all to play for.

"The score had put doubt in Glasgow, that it was not so cut and clear that they were getting away from us. We threw a lot at them at the start of the second half when we were hammering their line for a long while. But we ended up coming away with just three points. And that was disappointing.”

Effectively, though, a combination of Glasgow’s pace, class, lines of running and outright commitment combined with some slipshod Munster tackling meant that the Scots were almost always in control.

No doubt a few cans of beer were consumed on that long bus journey home on Saturday night to try and erase for a short while the memory of that comprehensive defeat against the Warriors.

There were also a number of farewells with around a dozen players set to leave the Munster camp over the coming days days. One of them was Australian Smith, scorer of the side’s only try and an influential player over the last couple of months.

“Andrew’s come in and done a massive job for us”, said Hurley. “I’ve gotten on well with him on and off the pitch. Lads like that, to come in and buy into what we’re all about and slot in so seamlessly... he’s a quiet enough guy who goes about his business and you wish lads like that well in the future. It’s disappointing that we’ve made a final and haven’t gotten over the last hurdle with them.

“We’ve done a lot of growing this season. We had new management in and it’s been a season of lessons learned. There’s a great squad building. A lot of new younger lads are getting game time and performing very well and it’s making good yards for next season.”