Plenty for 'delighted' Rowntree to work on after Munster's chaotic win over Connacht
UP AND RUNNING: Munster head coach Graham Rowntree during the warm-up. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
The Munster squad will get back on the treadmill this morning as the cold realities of a winning yet flawed performance cut through the euphoria of this narrow derby and minds turn to a first away game of the URC season next weekend.
For the rest of us, there is still a chance to relish the wonderful chaos of a high-intensity 10-try epic at Thomond Park last Saturday evening that saw the lead change hands seven times and a nerveless touchline conversion late on from replacement fly-half Tony Butler prove the only difference between these two adventurous and physical teams.
On an opening weekend of URC league action in which the largest winning margin across six round-one matches was a mere five points in Cardiff’s 22-17 victory over Zebre Parma, Munster and Connacht served up the sort of nerve-jangling, end-to-end brand of entertaining, no quarter-given rugby which should keep bums on seats from Glasgow to Cape Town and Galway to Treviso for the next nine months if this breakneck tempo can be maintained.
What it does for the stress levels in the coaches’ boxes is anyone’s guess but when Munster’s Graham Rowntree admitted post-match that this first fixture of 2024-25 represented a must-win game for the men in red, you can get an inkling of the mental space those management teams are in from the off.
It may be September but the outcome was everything, the head coach agreed.
“Yeah. It’s an interpro,” Rowntree said. “Ten tries, crikey. A rollercoaster of a game. We could have gone away there but we didn’t go away. We did some brilliant things, that’s the paradox of it all, we did some great things and we did some average things, all within the same minute on occasion.
“So we’ve got lots to work on. We go on the road next week to Zebre and we’ve got lots to work on. We’ll see who’s fit and available but we’ll crack on with that.
“I’m just delighted. They were a physical side, a bloody physical side and just delighted to win.”
Connacht’s physicality in addition to Munster’s early carelessness in possession had seen the visitors take a 12-0 lead inside the first quarter through their impressive debutant half-backs, fly-half Josh Ioane and number nine Ben Murphy. Yet Munster managed to gather some momentum from there, benefitting from a yellow card for high contact by full-back Santiago Cordero and replying through Alex Nankivell and Mike Haley, only to concede once more just before half-time. Ioane and Ben Murphy combined again to finish a move in which captain Cian Prendergast and Mack Hansen laid the foundations off a lineout on the right, with the scrum-half collecting his partner’s pop-up pass to claim his second of the half to help the westerners to a 19-14 interval lead.
If both defences were proving porous, their resilience to rebound from setbacks was exemplary. Munster re-took the lead five minutes after the re-start through John Hodnett, with debutant 10 Billy Burns adding his third conversion of the evening before leaving the field on 53 minutes with a shoulder injury that Rowntree said was an issue with the former Ulster playmaker’s AC joint.
The pendulum swung back to Connacht, who added their fourth and bonus-point try through David Hawkshaw on 53 minutes, followed five minutes later by Munster’s scored by a rampaging Gavin Coombes, with Burns’ replacement Butler adding the extras to send the home side into 28-26 lead heading into the final quarter. Still time for one more exchange of blows, centre Cathal Forde showcasing his power to get over the line, with Ioane converting his third of four attempts, and then Shane Daly levelling the scores with a try in the left corner with 10 minutes remaining. It needed Butler’s composed kick from the touchline to push Munster back in front and when Ioane missed touch with a late penalty kick to the corner, the home side got the break they needed, much to the delight of the home support in the 15,075 crowd.
"Bounce back from errors, that's what we showed,” Rowntree said. “Some of the stuff we did was brilliant, look at Coombesy's try, speed of ruck and we played on top of them then on the back of two tries conceded.
"Composure is how quick you can park it and move on, that's what won it for us tonight."
Yet for all the brilliance, there is much to put right and little time to fix it.
“We’ll have to,” he added. “We’re back on the treadmill now, week to week. We’ll get in Monday and have a look at it, put things to bed. Tuesday, you start looking forward. You’ve got to. You’ve got to drive on quick. A young Zebre team waiting for us at home, their first game at home. We’ll see what we can select and drive on from Monday.”
With Munster bracing for an update on Burns’ injury, and seven squad members heading off for South Africa this week with an Emerging Ireland, Munster, like all four of the Irish provinces will have their resources tested this weekend, with senior internationals unavailable until round three on the first weekend of October, yet Rowntree, like his opposite number at Connacht, Pete Wilkins supports the Simon Easterby-led venture.
"I said to the lads when it was announced last Thursday, I'm proud of them lads,” Rowntree said. "They're not going to come back worse players, we saw that two years ago.
"It will be good for them to work with those coaches in different environments. You've got to do that anyway, the whole season with injuries you're testing your depth and it's happening a bit earlier now.
"It can only be good for our club."
: M Haley; T Abrahams, T Farrell (S O’Brien,74), A Nankivell, S Daly (S O’Brien, 37-HT - HIA); B Burns (T Butler, 53), C Casey; J Loughman (J Wycherley, 51), D Barron – captain (N Scannell, 63), J Ryan (O Jager, 51); J Kleyn (J O’Donoghue, 55), F Wycherley; R Quinn (A Kendellen, 51), J Hodnett, G Coombes.
Replacement not used: E Coughlan : S Cordero; M Hansen, P O’Conor, C Forde, S Bolton (D Hawkshaw, 33); J Ioane, B Murphy (C Blade, 63); D Buckley (P Dooley, 51), D Heffernan (D Tierney-Martin, 66), J Aungier (S Illo, 51); J Joyce (O Dowling, 51), D Murray; J Murphy, C Oliver (S Hurley-Langton, 52), C Heffernan – captain.
Yellow card: S Cordero 27-37 Replacement not used: S Jansen.
: C Busby (IRFU)
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