Rowntree: 'Selection must reflect form not experience'
CALLING THE SHOTS: Munster head coach Graham Rowntree. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Graham Rowntree will stick to his guns and select on form alone for next Sunday’s trip to Toulouse having been vindicated for his brave decision-making with this victory at Thomond Park.
It will have taken nerves of steel to leave veteran internationals and Munster icons Conor Murray and Keith Earls out of his matchday squad for this must-win Heineken Champions Cup pool clash with Northampton Saints, preferring youth over experience and form before reputation to get the job done.Â
For a while, as Munster’s grip on a 24-0 half-time lead was slipping in the face of a concerted Saints fightback and their energy levels nearing empty after defending for an hour with a man down following Jack O’Donoghue’s red card, there will have been some among the 22,295 home crowd questioning that wisdom.
Yet with the win secured thanks in large part to first-half tries from O’Donoghue and a double from Gavin Coombes but also some vital defensive turnovers in the face of a second-half onslaught from Saints, Rowntree will employ the same selection policy for the final pool fixture and the challenge of lowering the colours of the five-time European champions on their home turf at Stade Ernest Wallon.
Victory in Toulouse next weekend would be some achievement for the first-season head coach, his new team of assistants and a playing group still getting to grips with the changes being asked of them in terms of training methods, game plan and mindset. Given Toulouse left Limerick with an 18-13 victory last month to extend their recent record against Munster to three wins from three in as many seasons on Irish soil, the thought of success over in France may seem fanciful.
Yet Saturday’s win represented another step in the right direction in that regard, the completion of a double over the English Premiership side achieved with elements of the all-court game Rowntree and his coaching ticket of Mike Prendergast, Andi Kyriacou and Denis Leamy are demanding of the squad.
The boss agreed that Munster’s 20th-minute try, their second, encapsulated all that the management had been striving for since he succeeded Johann van Graan last summer – clever multi-phase attack to stretch a defence missing the yellow-carded hooker Mikey Haywood before a Mike Haley pass sent to long to No.8 Coombes on the left wing, who employed excellent rugby intelligence to draw two defenders towards him, thus allowing a pass inside to give supporting runner O’Donoghue a free run-in for the score.
There will be elements that were less satisfying, and not just the red card for the try-scorer’s high hit on Saints lock David Ribbans but his side’s overall lack of discipline and the concession of cheap penalties that gave Northampton the platform to mount their stirring comeback.
Yet the head coach is confident Munster can go to the next level and claim the victory in Toulouse next Sunday and certain that is what is required to ensure progress to the knockout Round of 16.
“Definitely. Regardless of what the qualification looks like, we need to go there and win again,” Rowntree said. “That’s what you do for the next game and what a challenge. One of the toughest places to go in the world and win a game of rugby, and I think we can.
“The last time we played them we showed elements of our game really improving. I think we’re better now than we were then, so we’ll go there for the win regardless of what the qualification ramifications are.”Â
Whether that will involved scrum-half Murray and wing Earls remains to be seen. While Rowntree praised their contribution to the cause in preparing for the Saints clash the conversations that take place this week when he and his coaching staff sit down to select their side to face Toulouse will not differ from the previous process.
“It's important the way we're going that selection reflects form not experience and those guys who we left out today - there are some big names there. Their attitude has been exceptional. That's what we picked for this week - next week's another matter. But now it's important the way we're going that selection reflects form."
Certainly Shane Daly’s selection on the left wing turned up trumps with his defensive read and tackle on Rory Hutchinson forcing a crucial turnover late on as Saints threatened to close the gap having scored tries through Tommy Freeman and James Ramm in the third quarter.
Yet Rowntree was left concerned by a penalty count that while an improvement on the 18 and three yellow cards conceded in Northampton on December 18, nevertheless once again crept into double figures.
“It will always be a challenge,” he said. “Most of the tries we conceded came from a maul, or playing off a maul, which resulted in a penalty in the middle of the field. It’s something that we’ve just got to keep looking at, particularly next week when we go back to Toulouse and giving them access to their maul.
“It’s a constant work on and when you’re down to 14 men you’ve got a winger (Daly) on the side of the scrum (in the absence of flanker O’Donoghue) and then you’re conceding scrum penalties.
“We’ve got to look at how we do better there, even with seven forwards and a back coming in, because that’s where they got access from around that scrum.
“We spoke at half-time about leaving the breakdown but there were still a couple of key penalties in that second half where we didn’t leave the breakdown and we were a bit loose. I think of Alex Kendellen getting up in front of their (number) nine.
“Those things, that’s up to us. We’ve got to be better at doing that because that just gives them cheap access. So it’s a constant work on for us.”Â
M Haley; C Nash, A Frisch, J Crowley, S Daly; J Carbery (R Scannell, 56), C Casey (P Patterson, 64); D Kilcoyne (J Wycherley, 52), N Scannell, R Salanoa (J Ryan, 46); J Kleyn (A Kendellen, 60), T Beirne; J O’Donoghue, P O’Mahony – captain (J Hodnett, 64), G Coombes.
O’Donoghue, 22 minsÂ
S Buckley, L Coombes.
G Furbank; T Freeman; M Proctor (F Dingwall, 46), R Hutchinson, J Ramm (R Smith, 14-21); F Smith, A Mitchell; A Waller (E Waller, 68), M Haywood (R Smith, 70), P Hill (A Petch, 68); D Ribbans, A Moon (A Coles, 62); L Salakaia-Loto, C Lawes (A Scott-Young, 63), L Ludlam – captain.
Haywood, 11-21 minsÂ
C Braley, C Skosan.
Tual Trainini (France)
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