Munster win again but ill-discipline concerns Clayton McMillan

Munster picked up a 26-10 bonus point win against Ospreys in the URC but the concession of 12 penalties is "something we have to look at" according McMillan

Sat, 20 Dec, 2025 - 21:11

Nathan Johns, Bridgend

At this stage of the season, a ‘job done’ mantra appears to be the dominant takeaway for Clayton McMillan after Saturday’s 26-10 victory over the Ospreys in Bridgend.

McMillan acknowledged that the performance wasn’t pretty, errors in attack prevalent throughout, but during a winter block which features Europe, interpros and then Europe again, Munster’s Kiwi boss is happy just to be towards the right end of the URC table.

“I’ve been speaking to lots of media people who have questioned [how] we have been winning but it’s not been pretty,” said McMillan. "That’s not overly concerning to me, there’s a long way to go in the season, plenty of growth in our side.

“When you look across the competition, everyone’s in a similar boat. Teams have good days at the office, others where they look scratchy but just get across the line, that’s the stage of the season we’re at. It’s cold, wet, windy, everyone’s fighting for points. Just try keep your nose in front.”

Tries from Shane Daly, Lee Barron, Jack Crowley and Mike Haley were enough to secure a bonus point victory. Despite the scores, Munster’s attack lacked fluidity on the night, 13 turnovers conceded is a reflection of an inability to regularly ask questions of the defence. Five line breaks came from Munster players but these were often opportunistic moments off the back of carries under pressure.

The best attacking set was undoubtedly Haley’s try, one of the only occasions in the match where Munster built through the phases, drawing in defenders and sending the ball wide when the time came. Alex Nankiviell, named player of the match, came up with the moment to unpick the defence, his offload starting a sequence which ended with Haley coasting under the posts.

“Our set-piece functioned well, I thought our maul was particularly good today,” said McMillan with a nod to Barron’s catch-drive score. “We had a couple of attacking opportunities, some long defensive sets, but what put us under the most pressure was our ill-discipline. In the first half, we gave away way too many penalties. On another day, that’s going to hurt you. Something we have to look at.”

All told, Munster conceded 12 penalties. Not a disastrous number in isolation, but four of those came in quick succession in a first half period which saw the Ospreys spend a period of time inside the 22. Dan Edwards’ resulting penalty opened the scoring.

Later on, in the second half, the hosts’ sole try came off the back of penalty after penalty given away close to the Munster line. Even though Morgan Morris dotted down under advantage, Jack O’Donoghue paid for the team ill-discipline when being sent to the bin as the Ospreys celebrated the try.

On a night when Munster were forced to play without the ball for much of the contest (Ospreys made 156 carries to Munster’s 116), McMillan agreed that his side’s defence for the most part was sufficiently dogged. However, he called on his charges to avoid such levels of desperation which led to players trudging off the field.

“I think that’s a trait that has been in Munster, I believe, forever and a day; we’ll fight for everything and hopefully make life tough for the opposition,” he said. “We don’t want to be an easy team to score against.

“There have been examples of the good behaviour and that’s cool, but also we have got to have less situations that put us in a position where you need to be desperate. Be urgent and accurate before you need to be desperate. A few times we’ve been desperate because of some poor actions that have put us in that position.

“The Ospreys are a team that are fighting for everything at the moment, including their existence. That makes them dangerous, coming off the back of a couple of wins, that would put wind in their sails. I thought they were tenacious, they fought for everything. They didn’t give us anything for free. We’re happy to travel over here and go away with a bonus point win.”