Graham Rowntree: Munster let themselves down against Sharks

DEJECTED: Jack Crowley and John Hodnett of Munster after the Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 match between Cell C Sharks and Munster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium in Durban, South Africa. Pic: Darren Stewart/Sportsfile

Graham Rowntree admitted Munster let themselves down technically and tactically after the Sharks romped into the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals with a 50-35 round of 16 victory at Kings Park on Saturday.

In the game at 17-14 down starting the second half of the competition’s first ever knockout game on South African soil, the Sharks put the game beyond doubt with four tries in the next 21 minutes as Munster’s bid for the last eight wilted in the heat and humidity, even if their players did not.

That Munster claimed five of the 12 tries scored on the afternoon in Durban, three of them in the closing stages of the game, backed the head coach’s view that his side did not lack for energy or effort in testing conditions.

Yet Rowntree added: “Technically, tactically, we’ve got to be better. We’ll go back and look at that third quarter of the game because things got away from us straight after the two maul tries.” 

Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi touched down both of those tries before the backs took over, exploiting Munster errors as they chased the game at 29-14 down after 49 minutes. Werner Kok, Curwen Bosch and Makazole Mapimpi all scored off turnover ball or intercepts in the next 16 minutes to kill off the visitors’ hopes of a place in the last eight, despite late scores from Diarmuid Barron, Mike Haley and Fineen Wycherley.

Fly-half Bosch had opened the scoring with a fourth-minute penalty before Shane Daly struck for Munster two minutes later, Jack Crowley pushing them into a 7-3 lead with the conversion. Tries from Jaden Hendrikse and Eben Etzebeth put the Sharks back in the driving seat before Dave Kilcoyne narrowed their lead to leave the game at 17-14 heading to the interval, only for the Sharks to find that extra gear and ramp up their power game at the start of the second half.

“Hugely disappointed, as you’d imagine,” Rowntree said. “Three-point game at half-time, then quickly got away from us with two maul tries and then the game got even looser as we’re chasing the game.

“The team can score tries, we’ve proven that but I’ve just said to the lads there now, we’re back down here in three weeks. We’ve got a taste of what this coming to this club and this town and we’ll go back and analyse this game and see where we can better.” 

The Munster boss was referring to the two remaining games of the URC league season, when his side must return to South Africa to play the Stormers in Cape Town on April 15 and then face the Sharks again back at Kings Park a week later.

“We’re a tight group, a tight group. We will get back to Limerick, lick our wounds, pull the game apart and look at the things we can be better at because we’ve got to move forward.

“We are back down here in the URC, we’ve got to learn from it and move forward.”