Graham Rowntree 'hugely frustrated' after Munster loss to Exeter

The Munster head coach left Sandy Park feeling utterly frustrated by the outcome and elements of his team’s performance.

Munster head coach Graham Rowntree.

Graham Rowntree struggled to make sense of Munster’s 32-24 Champions Cup pool defeat at Exeter Chiefs on Sunday, a loss that leaves his side with a uphill battle to claim a home draw for the knockout rounds.

Munster had played some scintillating attacking rugby to rack up a try bonus point after 50 minutes for a 24-13 lead at Sandy Park, only to be hit by two quick tries from the 2020 champions around the hour mark and then concede a sucker punch of a late try to let a losing bonus point slip from their grasp. With two matches still to play in Pool 3 after Christmas, Rowntree’s squad lie in fifth place in the six-team pool and six match points off the top two positions and a home draw in next April’s Round of 16 knockout round.

The head coach left Sandy Park feeling utterly frustrated by the outcome and elements of his team’s performance.

"It's never over, is it? The game's never over,” Rowntree said. “We did some great things, scored some cracking tries, got the four-try bonus point doing some good things. I'd reiterate that - we did some pretty good things tonight.

"But some things just got away from us. They got away from us. I'm really frustrated with the last try, the circumstances around that. Their third try was just crazy, against the run of play.

"We turned around at half time, didn't change much tactically. Our kicking game wasn't as strong but I'm really frustrated with those last two tries we conceded against a great team.

"I'm hugely frustrated."

Excellently taken tries from Calvin Nash, Tom Ahern and Antoine Frisch in the first half plus a 50th-minute score from Shane Daly had given Munster that 24-13 lead but the game flipped on its head soon after. Exeter boss Rob Baxter emptied all but one of his bench between 52 and 54 minutes and was rewarded with a try from one of them, back-row replacement Ross Vintcent. Then calamity struck Munster in their backfield, Nash letting a through kick bounce more than once, allowing Exeter chase to apply pressure and former Leinster lock Jack Dunne stealing in between the wing and fly-half Jack Crowley to take the loose ball and score a second try in three minutes.

Henry Slade, the late penalty-kicking hero of Exeter’s round-one win in Toulon, converted both tries and when he intercepted replacement scrum-half Conor Murray’s try and ran over for a late try, Munster’s goose was cooked. The visitors argued two lazy runners were retreating from offside positions when Murray made his pass, and if the ball had struck either of them it would have been a penalty for the province but referee Mathieu Raynal awarded the try regardless.

It did not affect the outcome, Munster had been trailing 27-24 at the time, but it did deny them a losing bonus point and left a bitter taste in their mouths. Rowntree was also frustrated by some of Munster’s decision-making and errors as well as other Raynal decisions.

"I'll have to calm down and have another look.

"It got away from us. We didn't take our foot off the pedal, it's just the circumstances around our composure. You look at the lineout at the end there, we try to move the ball off that and Conor (Murray) unfortunately knocks the ball on. Those moments.

"Beaten in the air a couple of times. We'll have a look at that. We did some good things. It's a tough place to come but we got our game going, got on top of them. There's a couple of penalties around the middle of the field for six of their points that I'd like to have another look at. John Hodnett over the ball at the end of the first half and the one at the start of the second half. That brings the scoreline close, gives them a bit more belief. That happens, you've got to roll on but you have to take your chances when you can.

"We'll come in Tuesday and have a look at it. We've got a massive game against Leinster next week at Thomond Park and then Connacht in an inter-provincial, then we're back into Europe and we'll see how the cards fall.”