McMillan eyes more Munster 'growth' after Aviva defeat to Leinster
Munster's Tadhg Beirne speaks during a team huddle. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
It has been clear since the start of this new season that Munster are heading in the right direction yet estimates have varied on how long it will take to get to their destination.
That became apparent last Wednesday when Ireland boss Andy Farrell’s decision to select just two of Clayton McMillan’s players for next month’s Nations Championship matches divided opinion between those who believe Munster had been slighted by the national head coach and the more pragmatic view that this Ireland squad selection has come too soon to reflect the southern province’s journey back from the lows of recent seasons.
Saturday’s URC derby defeat at Leinster confirmed McMillan’s suspicions there is plenty of road left to travel before his players can feel justifiably aggrieved at their omissions.
Despite missing a raft of players who had they been fit might reasonably have expected to be joining captain Tadhg Beirne and scrum-half Craig Casey in Ireland camp this week, Munster acquitted themselves very well for much of the first half against the all-Ireland international XV fielded by Leinster.
They took a deserved 13-0 lead after 29 minutes thanks to a solid set-piece, dominant breakdown and inventive attack that produced a wonderfully constructed try for wing Shane Daly and eight points from the boot of first-year academy fly-half Charlie O’Shea.
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There was much to admire, but not nearly enough to contain Leo Cullen’s side as the champions grew steadily into the contest and began to establish their dominance with a grim inevitability if you were one of the visiting supporters in the 37,193 crowd at Aviva Stadium.
A try from wing Tommy O’Brien came just before half-time and was simplicity itself, sustained pressure allowing Jamison Gibson-Park to unlock Munster with a killer long-range pass to the right edge. And a post-interval, third quarter of scrum dominance confirmed the home team’s increasing superiority as Munster’s discipline unravelled.
Ryan Baird’s 55th-minute try, converted by Joey Carbery, completed a sequence of intense set-piece pressure from five metres out and produced a yellow card for Munster centre Alex Nankivell after an accumulation of team penalties.
Leinster went ahead through replacement back Charlie Tector’s try during the sin-binning, again from a well-executed pass from Gibson-Park, and it was the Ireland scrum-half’s third assist which sealed the bonus-point victory, another long-range bomb, this time to the left, where Jamie Osborne was waiting to score unopposed.
Munster, to their credit, rescued a losing bonus point in the 82nd minute with a second well-worked try, this time for full-back Ben O’Connor but it will be the 17 Leinstermen, injuries permitting, who will bounce into Ireland camp this week rather than Beirne and Casey.
The Munster head coach was not feeling sorry for his players over their Ireland omissions, however.
“I don't think it was mentioned once,” McMillan said of Farrell’s midweek squad announcement. “No, it's out of our hands. It's a team selected, it's a quality side and it's a hard team to get into and we've got to be better.
“Nights like tonight and there are opportunities to put your hand up and we didn't get the job done so there's still growth to be had.
“Look,” he added, “if you compare the experience between the two teams… they are a significantly more experienced and cohesive side and we know that if you want to get a win down here you’ve got to come and throw your best shot.
“Patches in games is not going to be good enough and there'll be some great learnings for our young squad out of the game tonight. So it is what it is.
“We're happy with our cattle. We know we need to get better. There's lots of young guys that are getting thrown into some pretty big occasions and from where I'm sitting a lot of them are doing a bloody good job.”
With the likes of Jack Crowley, Tom Farrell, Calvin Nash, Edwin Edogbo, Michael Milne and Jeremy Loughman all missing out for Munster, and now Ireland, through injury, a lot of responsibility has fallen on younger shoulders and their captain has been impressed with their response, including wing Shay McCarthy and O’Shea.
“There's plenty more as well of guys who are getting more opportunities than they probably have in the past,” Beirne said. “So, performance-wise on an individual basis there's a lot of lads playing really well and putting their hands up but I think as a team we're getting better. We just have to get a little bit better again particularly in those second halves where we're dropping off a little bit.
“That's one thing I'll certainly be trying to drive with this group in terms of going after an 80-minute performance. Every time you're in one of these games, especially for those younger lads, it's a huge learning. It's a huge opportunity to get better.
“We'll certainly take it from today and hopefully bring it into next week.” Next up are the Sharks, at Thomond Park this Saturday, and another tough challenge for a developing Munster squad that is having to learn lessons quickly, not least conceding 17 penalties to Leinster while losing a player for 10 minutes was pivotal in them losing their grip on this contest.
McMillan credited his players for claiming a losing bonus point and having heavily rotated his matchday selections across the first five matches of the season to add experience to as many of his squad as possible, he will now need that policy to bear fruit this weekend with two important leaders now away with Ireland.
“When we went down to 14, eventually that was just going to take its toll,” he said. “But it didn't blow out. We've been guilty, at least last year, of in those moments, the game going from a tight arm wrestle to a 20, 30-point loss.
“So the fact we didn't capitulate and actually found a way to get a bonus point at the end for me is better evidence we're trending in the right direction.But we also don't want to be the team that keeps talking about trending in the right direction. We want to start winning some games.
“Definitely games like next week will be where we'll get tested around losing a couple of key senior players, and you hope that the experiences that they've had to date will serve them well.”
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