Rowntree praises Munster's ability to 'scrap it out' in tough Thomond conditions

GOOD EVENING'S WORK: Munster head coach Graham Rowntree. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Graham Rowntree praised Munster’s ability to scrap out a victory over South African rivals the Stormers following a hard-fought 10-3 URC win at Thomond Park on Saturday.

A first-half Edwin Edogbo try converted by man of the match Jack Crowley was all that separated last season’s Grand Finalists with Rowntree’s men extracting a fourth consecutive win over the 2022 champions in this round-five clash on an evening of horrible weather in Limerick.

The four league points also came at the cost of injuries to captain Peter O’Mahony, just 40 minutes into his seasonal debut following his post-World Cup break and his back-row replacement Jack O’Donoghue, both men now serious doubts for next Saturday’s derby clash with Leinster in Dublin.

“We scrapped it out, didn’t we?” head coach Rowntree said. “We scrapped it out in conditions that were actually worse than people would have seen on TV.

“We’ve a few injuries to assess as well. We lost Pete (O’Mahony) at half-time, Jack O’Donoghue - did you see him get back into the defensive line? He’s done something bad to his knee (ankle) but he jumps back into the defensive line to make a tackle, it’s incredible that, from Jack.

“But back to the game, at 50 minutes we should have scored, it would have taken us to 17-3 but no, we’re back on our own goal-line, fighting for our lives. They kept going for the scrum, I’m proud of Josh Wycherley, he dug in there. We knew they’d have some scrum power – their last two defeats they’ve been on top in the scrum, particularly in Glasgow against a very good scrum. So we knew they’d have power there, so we stuck in there.

“We scrapped it out there, I wasn’t gushing afterwards but we’ll have a look at what we can do better on Monday morning, see what bodies we can pick for next week.” 

Rowntree said he was pleased with the upturn in Munster’s fortunes after a lacklustre performance in defeat to Ulster eight days earlier in Belfast.

“Yeah, there were areas we had to better and we’ve had a good look at ourselves this week. And the same areas are going to keep occurring. We had the fastest ruck last year and it helped our game and people are coming after our ruck.” 

The return of O’Mahony and fellow Ireland internationals Tadhg Beirne, who started at lock, and replacement scrum-half Conor Murray helped raised standards for Munster and Rowntree added: “It’s their calming influence. Both of them are calm players. They are exactly what they are. That was the version of themselves, that’s why they play so well for Ireland. They were good.” 

The Munster boss also praised starting academy duo, wing Shay McCarthy and try-scoring wing Edogbo.

“We’ve got young men still learning, getting better, what an experience for Shay McCarthy, fielding those high balls. I’m proud of them, they’ll be better for it.

“(Edwin)’s a big man and he will get better with more minutes on the field. We’ve got high hopes for him. A good kid, diligent and we’ll keep pushing him on.”