Rowntree says URC performance against Ulster 'not good enough'

Rowntree before the URC match between Ulster and Munster in Belfast.

Graham Rowntree has not spared his team after Munster’s disappointing performance and defeat to Ulster in the URC on Friday night.

The reigning champions were 14-3 to the good through the first quarter in Belfast but failed to score again, their own shortcomings allying with Ulster’s growing belief and momentum and eventually leading to a first loss of the season.

This was, he admitted, a fair result on the balance of play.

“Yeah, yeah. We scored two tries early on and had some good territory early on without being brilliant. We weren’t that good and we said that at half-time. There was certainly no complacency at half-time because they had already started to come back into the game and then the third quarter it just got away from us.

“We were inaccurate, sloppy, ill-disciplined. Our ruck wasn’t fast enough and that is the heartbeat of the game for us. Really disappointed. Our setpiece malfunctioned. Yeah, we were chasing the game at the end there which I expect from us.

“We are never going to give up but we have to be better than that. We’re not pointing the finger at anyone else. We will have a good look at ourselves this week. That’s not good enough.” Credit has to go to Ulster who let slip a 20-3 lead against Connacht in Galway last week. Dan McFarland’s side stuck at it, even when conceding a second try to Craig Casey when Munster were without the sinbinned Shane Daly.

Ulster had to claw their way back bit by bit when failing to make the most of numerous line breaks but Nathan Doak’s boot and tries from Jacob Stockdale and Nick Timoney eventually got them over the line for a morale-boosting win.

Here again though, Rowntree couldn’t help but rue his own side’s failings.

Munster's Rory Scannell.

“They were positively putting pressure on us. We were piggy-backing penalties and getting put onto our own goal line, losing lineouts, we got run off our scrum and couldn’t consistently string any phases together in the middle of the field.

“Hugely, hugely disappointed dressing-room down there. That just was not us. I said that to them. It’s just not us. We will own up, we will go away and we will get better for that.” Ulster clearly benefited from the presence of returning internationals Stuart McCloskey, Iain Henderson and Rob Herring – the latter two from off the bench – against a Munster side that played without a number of their World Cup contingent.

Jack Crowley, Craig Casey and Jeremy Loughman did start but David Kilcoyne, Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray were all given another weekend off after their exertions in France with Andy Farrell’s side.

Kilcoyne did travel and was involved in the pre-match warm-up but the other three were not considered after what Rowntree described as a “short week” form and the Munster had no regrets afterwards.

“Those guys have played a lot of game time in that World Cup and they were coming back intoa short week. I stand by that. I stand by our selection this week. And we have those guys potentially coming back in next week. We will deal with that on Monday.” It has been a difficult week for the province with news that RG Snyman and Joey Carbery face months out of the game after yet more injuries being followed by the announcement that Andrew Conway had been forced into retirement at the age of 32.

Rowntree described Conway’s return from injury only this summer as akin to a new signing for the club and said he had been hugely saddened by a decision which he respected.

“What a man, what an icon of the club. It was an emotional meeting [on Thursday] when he told the playing group. We feel for him. He has worked exceptionally hard coming back from a long term knee injury and it was like having a new signing with him on deck.

“The way he speaks, the way he coaches lads on the field. But it wasn’t to be. His knee is at him. He has made a decision to control the situation. What else has he got to prove? I wish him all the best. We will miss him.”