Tadhg Beirne: No choice now but to win in Exeter

Beirne admitted the URC champions and top seeds had, not for the first time, given themselves an uphill battle to fight in that regard but added it was a challenge the squad would look forward to meeting.

Bayonne’s Denis Marchois and Tadhg Beirne of Munster.

TADHG Beirne believes Munster have “no choice” but to claim a Champions Cup away win on the road at Exeter Chiefs this Sunday following the province’s disappointing home draw with tournament rookies Bayonne.

Munster boss Graham Rowntree described the 17-17 stalemate at Thomond Park on Saturday as feeling like a loss as his side failed to capitalise on their numerous try-scoring opportunities in the Pool 3 opener and paid the price by conceding a late try, converted from the touchline, to let valuable match points slip from their grasp and ramp up the pressure for the round two trip to Sandy Park, home of the 2020 champions.

With Exeter picking up an away win in Toulon on Saturday and Northampton Saints victorious on the road at Glasgow Warriors the previous night, Munster are behind the eight ball in terms of securing a home Round of 16 draw at the end of the four-match pool campaign, although four clubs progress to the knockout stages from each of the four pools.

Beirne, who captained Munster on Saturday night, admitted the URC champions and top seeds had, not for the first time, given themselves an uphill battle to fight in that regard but added it was a challenge the squad would look forward to meeting.

“We said before the game we were in an unbelievable position to go after this competition and I think after today we have put pressure on ourselves in the competition,” the Ireland and Lions forward said.

“Next week becomes way more important than we probably thought it would have been if we’d come away with five points tonight we would have been going away for a win. We have no choice but to get a win next week.

“That’s where the pressure will come. We’ll relish the match. I’ve no doubt this group is able to dust themselves off and we’ll definitely put our best foot forward. I think we are more than capable of going away next week and beating Exeter away.” 

Munster have not won on their previous two visits to Sandy Park, drawing their maiden encounter in October 2018 and then falling to a 13-8 defeat on their return to Devon in a 2022 Round of 16 first-leg tie they eventually won on aggregate back at Thomond Park.

"It is an incredibly tough place to go,” Beirne said. “Their crowd plays a huge part. It is often very windy down there and much like tonight it can become a dogfight if you let it, so we are going to have to really implement our own game if we want to come away with a win.

“We will have to look at (the performance against Bayonne) and figure out what went wrong and why it went wrong and make sure it doesn't happen again next week."

Turning to that dogfight with Bayonne in Limerick, Beirne agreed with the suggestion Munster had been dragged into a battle they had not wanted to be in.

“Probably towards the end. I think they stayed in it. They managed to stay in the fight and probably get a little bit of belief towards the end of the game and they certainly took advantage of that.

“We had ample opportunities to kill the game but we just couldn’t get over that white line and finish them off. Just too many mistakes.

“Lost a lineout five metres out, I threw a ball straight out into touch… I thought there was advantage but it still doesn’t excuse the mistake of throwing straight into touch. You know, we had other opportunities five metres out where we were camped on their line, an area that we are usually very good at…we weren’t at our best.

“That’s the disappointing part. That’s where will probably look back and be annoyed with ourselves that we didn’t get the scores when we should have.” Beirne put that down to “mistakes and decision-making”, adding: “We weren't winning contacts when we should have been winning contacts. We weren't playing our game the way we had planned to play it. That is probably the frustrating thing.

"Credit to Bayonne, they defended their line incredibly well and they were very physical. They kept knocking us backwards. But it is on us. There was ample opportunities to score, score out wide and we just didn't really take them.” 

What does give Beirne hope of a positive outcome in Exeter this Sunday is Munster’s proven resilience on the road at the back end of last season, when Rowntree’s men went five matches unbeaten away from home and landed the URC title with a Grand Final victory over the 2022 champion Stormers on their home turf in Cape Town last May.

The lock/flanker agreed that was a definite strength to draw on heading to Devon this weekend.

"Yeah, massively. Wig (Rowntree) said it inside, we have done it the hard way before and those questions are going to be asked of us again now next week to go away and win at Exeter. We'll dust ourselves off and we will get ready for next week and I think the team that we had out there put in a serious performance in certain areas, especially the younger lads, the lads who made their first cap (European debutants Shay McCarthy and Ben O’Connor).

"They probably led the way out there and that is going to stand to them next week if they are involved. I am actually looking forward to it now.”