Big win in Belfast but Munster must be 'infinitely better' against Leinster, warns Costello

The visitors came away from a bonus-point win against Ulster on Friday night. 

Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast, left, and Munster interim head coach Ian Costello. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

A bonus-point 22-19 derby victory in a Belfast bearpit should not be dismissed lightly but as welcome as it was for Munster, there will be plenty to concern interim head coach Ian Costello ahead of a visit from league leaders Leinster to Thomond Park this Friday.

A win is a win and a bonus-point win is a much better outcome than would have been hoped for before kick-off. Yet for all the positives that were delivered by Munster on a noisy night at Kingspan Stadium, not least a hat-trick of tries in a player of the match performance from centre Tom Farrell, there were just as many negatives. Indeed, Costello and his assistants will be particularly unsettled by the recurrence of issues they might have expected to have fixed on the training field following the previous weekend’s 16-14 Champions Cup pool loss at Castres.