Ian Costello slams performance as Munster lose proud Cork record

Munster's bid for a URC top-four finish and home quarter-final draw were dented by the defeat to Edinburgh at Virgin Media Park on Friday night. 

CURRIE'S HOUSE: Edinburgh winger Matt Currie scored a hat-trick against Munster. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

Ian Costello slammed Munster’s performance as way off as his side missed the chance to put pressure on the top four of the URC table approaching the tail end of the regular season.

Munster lost for the first time in Cork for six years on Friday night as Edinburgh claimed a bonus point with a 34-28 win to boost their own play-off hopes and put a dent in the Irish province’s bid for a top-four finish and home quarter-final draw when the knockout rounds begin at the end of May.

The first two tries of a Matt Currie hat-trick helped Edinburgh to their try bonus point inside the first 40 minutes as a malfunctioning scrum and porous defence undid Munster’s recent good form that had seen them rise to fifth place in the league table.

Interim boss Costello’s side trailed 29-7 at half-time and though they fought back to claim two match points through both try and losing bonus points, with Alex Nankivell claiming two and fellow injury returnee Sean O’Brien coming off the bench to score the fourth either side of the third from full-back Ben O’Connor. Yet there was bitter disappointment from the head coach at full-time.

“The first half was way off,” Costello said. “It’s one of those ones where we’ll have to look back and see where that came from because we certainly didn’t feel it. We were off in so many elements, technically, tactically, but actually our fundamentals in terms of energy, how quick we move.

“We addressed it at half-time but even in the second half, even though the scoreline came in our favour a bit, not good enough for the standards we set ourselves.” 

Costello continued: “We needed to win that game. It’s a home game in Cork, we haven’t lost here since 2019, a really proud record that we’ve lost tonight.

“On top of that, we’ve worked so hard over the last couple of months to get ourselves into this position moving from 13th to fifth and there was a real chance to put a squeeze on the top four.

“Will that two points be important in six games’ time? I don’t know. I’m certainly happier to take two points from what it looked like with maybe 12 minutes to go but I don’t want to hide from the fact that wasn’t good enough by our standards, a long way off what we expect of ourselves.”