Rowntree relieved to leave with bonus after challenging week

Munster Head Coach Graham Rowntree

Graham Rowntree admitted he was relieved to leave Musgrave Park with a bonus-point victory over Scarlets at the end of an emotional week for Munster following the deaths of Tom Tierney and Brian O’Brien.

The two Munster stalwarts were each buried in Limerick in the days leading up to Friday night’s BKT URC clash with former scrum-half and IRFU National Talent Coach Tierney having worked closely with the province’s young National Training Squad players before his sudden death last weekend at the age of 46.

Starting full-back Patrick Campbell had been one of Tierney’s coffin bearers 36 hours earlier and the academy star was the first on the scoresheet of a 13-try thriller that Munster won 49-42 having taken a 35-7 half-time lead.

The Welsh region’s five-try second-half performance took some of the gloss off a victory in front of an 8,008 sell-out crowd in Cork but there were seven home tries and the return of South Africa’s World Cup-winning lock RG Snyman following a 17-month injury absence for Munster supporters to celebrate and Rowntree was proud of the way his side had come through a difficult week.

Asked to sum up a game that saw every one of the tries converted, starting fly-halves Joey Carbery and Scarlets’ Sam Costelow kicking six apiece with Munster replacement Jack Crowley adding his side’s seventh, head coach Rowntree said: “Glad, glad to get out of that game with a bonus-point, and a bonus-point win.

“We had a challenging week as a club for multiple reasons. The game freed up a bit in that third quarter, we didn't help ourselves, and we had quite a few changes, including people playing out of position.

“We're learning about people as well, youngsters, there's a few guys there who haven't played a lot of rugby, who are learning.

“Let's not take it away from Scarlets, they can play. We previewed all week their form and how dangerous they are if you kick poorly to them, or kick loosely to them, how dangerous they can be on the edge of the field, and they have a couple of big, rangy forwards who can carry the ball and offload, and that's what we saw in that 50 minutes onwards, you're hanging on at the end of the game thinking, 'Crikey, it's got to this?', but it had.

“But, headline, we come out of it with a bonus-point win after a very challenging seven days.” 

Rowntree also praised the diligence of Snyman, whose last appearance had also been against Scarlets in October 2021, when he ruptured his ACL for the second time since joining Munster 13 months earlier.

Snyman’s comeback came off the bench on 63 minutes and the Springbok received a standing ovation with Rowntree adding: “He came on, and he's been magnificent the last 18 months how he's handled various disappointments on and off the field.

“I'm proud of him. He's so important for the group, he's in our leadership group, the lads love him. You saw it when he came on. It was pleasing to see him get on the field.”