Graham Rowntree 'really proud' of Munster charges after defensive effort

PROUD: Munster’s Jack O’Donoghue with head coach Graham Rowntree after the game. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Graham Rowntree gave defence coach Denis Leamy the credit after watching a second-half rearguard action that secured a valuable European victory for Munster at Northampton Saints on Sunday.

Munster held on to the 17-6 lead they had enjoyed at half-time to bounce back from an opening-round Heineken Champions Cup defeat at home to Toulouse seven days earlier to get their pool campaign up and running with two games to come in the New Year.

Two tries from No.8 Gavin Coombes had given Rowntree’s team their half-time lead at Franklin’s Gardens but Munster had to withstand a full-scale onslaught from the Saints as the English Premiership side laid siege to the visitor’s tryline for much of the second half. Munster did so despite losing three players to yellow cards after the interval.

Jack Donoghue was sin-binned on 52 minutes alongside Northampton captain Lewis Ludlam following an off the ball scuffle involving both sets of players before Craig Casey joined them four minutes later. Joey Carbery was the next to be sent to the bin by referee Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy soon after Casey returned to the pitch but Munster’s defensive line held firm throughout to their head coach’s delight.

“Huge, huge win for us and in the manner that we did it, we dug in there,” Rowntree said. “Most of the second-half, we were on our own goal-line, three yellow cards. I'm proud of them, really proud of them.

“Our defensive effort there was exceptional. The lads have done a lot of good work there with Denis Leamy. He has been great for us, he's really grown into a very good coach.

“So, the nature of the win, we would have liked for it to have been more glamorous, scoring tries, but to dig in like that, that's massive for us going forward.

“It says a lot about the club and our desire to get off the floor and help the man next to you. That's Munster DNA anyway. We speak about it a lot, we train it in the week but that was a proper test for us.” 

In a game in which Munster conceded 18 of the match’s 30 penalties, Rowntree said the yellow cards his players picked up would be reviewed before he passed comment on them. 

“We will have a look at that this week on review and look at our actions there. I'm not going to get into it now. We need to look at things calmly after the event... We will do that in the review in a calmer environment.

“We can't be having guys in the bin, you need 15 guys on the field these days so we will have a good look at that this week.”