'We stayed true to what we said' — Costello hails Munster's fight and physicality off bench

Staring down a familiar foe in a must-win situation, the province put in one of their most dogged displays in recent memory to see off Saracens.

Sat, 11 Jan, 2025 - 21:16

Simon Lewis, Thomond Park

Munster boss Ian Costello praised his side for sticking to the gameplan as they came from behind to beat Saracens and keep their Champions Cup hopes alive with a 17-12 pool win in Limerick on Saturday night.

Second-half tries from Dian Bleuler and John Hodnett, both converted by Jack Crowley, transformed a 9-3 deficit into a winning score while an excellent defensive display kept the English Premiership giants tryless in a tense arm-wrestle of a game at Thomond Park.

It moves Munster ahead of Saracens on points difference into second place, just a point behind Pool 3 leaders Northampton Saints, who earned a try bonus point in a 45-35 defeat at Stade Francais. That was enough to keep their noses in front going into the final round of pool play next Saturday when Costello’s side must visit Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.

A defeat at home to Saracens would have dealt a near-fatal blow to Munster’s hopes of reaching the knockout rounds but after the hard-earned win interim head coach Costello said: “I think we stayed really true to what we said we would do, and at times we have gone a little bit away from that at key moments under pressure.

“We went 6-0 down, we were disappointed with two poor penalties, but the lads stayed really calm. I thought we were unlucky in the first-half not to score that maul up in the top left, we probably felt like we deserved that but we came in 6-3 down, and everyone was really calm at half-time.

“We focused on two things: out-working them and having to win the physical battle, and we set ourselves up to do that. Everything we did for the last 10 days has been about that challenge, and we made sure that lads were incredibly fresh, and we had huge energy from the bench to really finish strong. I thought that paid off tonight.”

Injury-hit Munster did welcome back some experience to their ranks with returns to fitness for Diarmuid Barron, on the bench, Conor Murray and Jack O’Donoghue and a comeback following an IRFU-mandated break for fly-half Crowley. Their presence plus an impactful bench, including try-scorer Hodnett, helped Costello’s side to a big improvement on recent performances, not least a 28-7 home URC defeat to Leinster last time out on December 27.

“The beauty of it is, since the last time we sat here we got five players back and there’s a huge amount of leadership in that group as well if you work through them – Barronsy, the two Jacks and Diarmuid Kilgallen, who is back but wasn’t selected. He will come into the mix over the next few weeks," added Costello.

“That made a huge difference for the likes of Tadhg (Beirne, the captain) and in key moments we could feel that the team were really in control, really calm, and decisive around what we were trying to do, especially when we made a few mistakes.

“Aerially, I thought we were beaten tonight, which is really unlike us, and we fumbled a few balls in the back-field when they kicked along the ground. They have an outstanding kicking game but again, staying calm through that and staying on task and on plan."

Munster skipper Beirne also praised a “massive” defensive effort typified by a last-ditch tackle inside the 22 on Saracens wing Liam Williams as Hodnett and then Crowley combined to force a knock-on as the visitors threatened to earn a draw late on.

“That's been a big work on for us as well considering how we started the season,” Beirne said. “Defensively we've been working hard on getting better there and I think we've seen that today."