Updated at 06.30
MUNSTER’S ANTHONY FOLEY admitted to disappointment at watching his side give up a winning position in the closing stages of their Guinness Pro12 clash with Ulster in Belfast.
Munster led 23-16 with four minutes of the game remaining after Keith Earls sidestepped Ulster’s Louis Ludik to touch down in the right corner. That the home side were down to 14 men on account of Iain Henderson’s red card made the prospect of Munster seeing out the win seem all the more likely.
But Neil Doak’s side found the energy and incision to manufacture a Paul Marshall try that was converted by Paddy Jackson with the last act of the game, ensuring a 23-23 draw.
Foley hinted that he will be taking a close look at the match tape to find out what exactly malfunctioned in Munster’s numerically-superior defence.
“They kicked off [after Earls' try] and won the ball,” said Foley post-match in Belfast. “We needed to deal with that and we didn’t deal with that.
We defended a number of phases, gave away a soft penalty, they went into the corner and got a lineout, built momentum onto that and got on the front foot. We ran out of numbers and we were against 14 men, so it will be interesting to see where our bodies were.”
That late try echoed Munster’s concession of a magnificent Tommy Bowe score on the stroke of half time, with those poor closing minutes in each half ultimately costing Munster a victory that would have moved them to the top of the Pro12 table.
“We dominated most of the game and a few hiccups around the end of the first half and the end of the second half cost us dear,” said Foley.
“It’s important that we play the full 80 and I thought at stages in the game we were in a good dominant position, but unfortunately we didn’t capitalise on that with the result.”
Despite his frustration, Foley pointed out that he has come away from Belfast after defeat too often to be totally dissatisfied with a draw on this occasion. He remains hopeful that Munster can jump into the top two and grab a home semi-final after the final day of the regular season next weekend.
The Dragons visit Musgrave Park on Saturday, and Munster will be waiting anxiously on the recoveries of Simon Zebo and Tommy O’Donnell, both of whom were replaced after injuries against Ulster.
“Simon struggled to get through the week with a back injury or back pain, his back was going into spasm,” said Foley. “He trained fully on Thursday but took a collision early and the game and got a bad reaction to it. We had to take him off.
Tommy’s being assessed for a hamstring injury, so we can’t tell how bad that is. But it was obviously bad enough to take him off after about 10 minutes.”
The Dragons recorded their latest confidence-boosting win last night, as they dented Edinburgh’s Champions Cup hopes with a 19-5 win at Rodney Parade. Foley will be taking nothing for granted next weekend.
“The Dragons have beaten Leinster home and away this year,” said Foley. “They’re a good side, they’ve a lot of quality players in their side.
“We’ll prepare the same as we prepared this week, we’ll make sure we’re fully focused on the game and making sure we get the result. Hopefully we can get a better position in the top four.”
