Clayton McMillan: 'It just wasn’t good enough, nowhere near the standard that we want to set'

NOT GOOD ENOUGH: Munster head coach Clayton McMillan pulled no punches as he raked over the coals of a dismal URC derby performance from Munster in a 28-3 defeat to Ulster in Belfast on Friday night. Picture: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

Clayton McMillan pulled no punches as he raked over the coals of a dismal URC derby performance from Munster in a 28-3 defeat to Ulster in Belfast on Friday night.

The head coach had given his wider squad an opportunity to stake their claims for selection in the upcoming Champions Cup pool games at Toulon and then home to Castres but with a trip to the south of France for this first of those at Stade Felix Mayol, the New Zealander said his team’s performance against an in-form Ulster offered more questions than answers as they were outscored three tries to none on a snowy night at Affidea Stadium.

“There’s no sugar coating anything really, we just never got our game going and we’ve got to give credit where it’s due against a good Ulster side,” McMillan told Premier Sports.

Asked if a lack of cohesion having made 10 changes from last weekend’s defeat at home to Leinster, McMillan replied: “No, no, it just wasn’t good enough, nowhere near the standard that we want to set. It was an opportunity for a number of people to put themselves in the jersey in the coming weeks and really we went away with more questions than answers. So not a great day at the office and as coaches we own it first and foremost.

“We’ve been a little clunky in our performances and haven’t quite hit our stride. We’ve tried a few different things and haven’t quite struck a chord just yet.

“It starts with us. We’ll go away and reflect on what we can do better. We’ve got an eight, nine-day turnaround now to try to leverage off that to try and find the solutions.” 

As for the improvements needed to be found ahead of Sunday week’s visit to Toulon, McMillan said: “Right across the board. You go to a quality outfit like that and a performance anywhere near what you saw tonight wouldn’t be pretty so there’s lots to fix up but we’ve got plenty of quality in our team and we’ll bounce back. But it hurts to lose in that manner and not fire a shot.”