Glasgow loss 'will take a while to sink in', insists 'frustrated' Munster boss Rowntree

SEASON OVER: Munster's Gavin Coombes and Niall Scannell. Pic: Dan Sheridan, Inpho

Graham Rowntree bemoaned Munster’s failure to take their opportunities as he was left frustrated by his side’s URC semi-final defeat to Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park on Saturday.

Munster’s term as defending champions was brought to an end in a 17-10 defeat in front of 20,052 supporters as the 2015 champions booked a Grand Final with the Bulls in Pretoria next Saturday having avenged last season’s quarter-final loss to Rowntree’s men on their home ground at Scotstoun.

Top seeds and coming in on a 10-game winning run after finishing first in the regular season standings, Munster failed to capitalise on a dominant first half in terms of possession, territory, and a penalty count. 

It was a period that also saw Glasgow lose two players to yellow cards and lead 7-3 at the interval thanks to a converted try against the run of play by captain and wing Kyle Steyn.

Yet the visitors outsmarted their hosts in the second half, went further in front through Sebastian Cancelliere and though Antoine Frisch finished an excellent Munster move to close the gap to 14-10, Glasgow managed the contest superbly and added a penalty through George Horne as the 2023 champions lost Alex Nankivell to a late red card.

It marked a miserable end of the line for outgoing Munster players Frisch, RG Snyman, and the injured Joey Carbery as well as homegrown hero Simon Zebo, who had earlier this month announced he would be retiring at the end of the season.

“It’s going to take a while for that to sink in,” head coach Rowntree said. “Hugely frustrating, you get yourself in a position, home semi-final and then the game got away from us.

“It’s about taking opportunities, using the possession and territory that we had. We didn’t take our opportunities.

“They got the tries that they did without having to do much, to be honest with you, it was just the freak nature of the tries and then we tried a bit too hard near the try-line.

“Credit to them, they were tenacious tonight, were Glasgow. I just said to the group there, we are saying goodbye to some big names who deserve better if I am honest with you.

“It will take a while to sink in. I am proud of how we finished the season, where we got to, and the style of play.

“As I say, you earn yourself a home semi and it’s just frustrating, hugely frustrating.” 

 Both Rowntree and captain Tadhg Beirne admitted Munster had been guilty of trying too hard in chasing the game at 14-3 down after 50 minutes.

“Yeah, that's a composure piece with the players,” the head coach said. “We speak about one more ruck rather than an offload, which is brilliant if it comes off, you go 'what a cracking offload!' But we were just a bit guilty of forcing things a bit too much.” 

 Beirne added: “You can't fault the effort of any of the lads, we stuck in it, were in it right to end. You've got to give credit to Glasgow, they defended unbelievably well.

“Similar to last week (against Ospreys in the quarter-final), we just didn't take our chances when we got inside the 22, we had a few opportunities there to come away with some points and unfortunately we didn't, we gave away penalties or knock-ons or just silly errors which probably crept into our game a little bit over the last couple of weeks unfortunately.

"As Wig said we were probably trying too hard and just needed to take a moment and slow the ball down a touch to get back into our shape and go from there.

“But you can't fault Glasgow's effort because they defended unbelievably well and they stopped us. Some teams haven't been able to stop us from that far out but they were, so credit to them.” 

As Warriors staff members scrambled to book plane tickets for South Africa ahead of next Saturday’s final at Loftus Versfeld, head coach Franco Smith praised his players for the way they managed the loss of Richie Gray to a yellow card on 12 minutes and then Matt Fagerson on 40.

“We turned the ball over too many times in the first half through too much eagerness and that led to penalties, which was a negative spiral for us.

“But the compliment sits in the way that the guys handled that period – with the yellow cards as well – we didn’t allow them points and that kept us in the game.”