EVEN WHEN MUNSTER made a good start to the season, racking up a few early wins in the URC, Clayton McMillan made it clear he wasn’t happy with lots of the rugby they were playing.

The victory over Leinster in Croke Park was the exception. The Munster head coach couldn’t really pick holes in that.

But while others were praising Munster for their successful start to the campaign, McMillan was underlining that performances weren’t where he wanted them to be.

He knew it would take time to make the changes he wanted to make, the kind of changes that would ‘raise the floor’ rather than just raising the bar. McMillan wanted to ensure that Munster wouldn’t continue having the kind of dire off-days that they sprinkled into otherwise decent seasons.

Well, last Friday in Belfast was one of those bad days. Munster made 10 changes and were without their three key players – Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley, and Craig Casey – but McMillan did not expect such a drop-off away to Ulster.

Munster barely fired a shot in a 28-3 defeat and it must have caused the Kiwi head coach plenty of concern. The southern province have dropped down to sixth in the URC table as a result of the defeat.

“It’s hard to say,” said McMillan when asked if he was worried that Munster were so poor at this stage of the season.

“I think when you watch the competition, there’s a lot of games that I wouldn’t describe as being that pretty or free-flowing. You get the odd one and you might see one team break out and look really good in patches, but I see similar traits across the competition.

“And there’s still a long way to go. You ultimately want to be playing your best rugby at the back end of the season.

“I think what we take comfort from is that we’ve played a lot of the good teams. We’ve played the Stormers, we’ve played Leinster twice, we’ve played Ulster, we played Cardiff who are above us. Even when you go somewhere like Bridgend and you play Ospreys, it was a tough place to go.

Munster second row Jean Kleyn. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

“It’s hard at the moment to get a gauge around where you actually sit because we’ve certainly had good days at the office, and nights like tonight where it doesn’t go so well.

“So still learning about where we actually sit but we’re honest enough to know that we’re not playing the sort of rugby anywhere near what we think we’re capable of.

“That’s why I say it starts with me and it starts with our leadership group and the rest of the coaching group to just find some solutions because the talent is there.”

That was something McMillan was keen to stress on Friday night after the defeat to Ulster – that his Munster team have the playing talent to be a good team on a more consistent basis.

Several times, he underlined that the Munster coaches have to figure out how to get more from the talent in their squad, including in their attack.

A return of just three points against Ulster was deeply disappointing, even accounting for the tough conditions.

“That’s an interesting question,” said McMillan when asked where Munster were coming up short in attack.

“One thing that had probably been a bit of an Achilles’ heel for us had been our set-piece, but I think that’s functioned really well over the last three or four weeks. Certainly, our lineout has improved. In the scrum, we’ve been under pressure in a few moments, but not to the extent that it’s hampering our attack.

“Maybe the chopping and changing of bodies isn’t helping with the cohesion.

“Look, those are the sorts of things that I think we’re searching for the answers for because we know we’ve got good players.

“We’re seeing really good stuff during the week when we train, it’s just the transference of that when it really matters and when you’re put under pressure.

“So no one thing in particular, although the consistency of our breakdown work… it’s a very competitive part of the game and it always has been, to be fair.

Munster must bounce back against Toulon on Sunday. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

“If you get that part of your game right, generally the rest of your game will find it easier to get a bit of flow. We haven’t had that consistency and, as a result, I think sometimes our attack has looked a little bit clunky.

“But there were also some good moments out there, particularly in the first half, we strung a few phases together. Unlucky not to convert a couple but there were a couple of good moments.”

Munster now turn their focus to Sunday’s Champions Cup visit to Toulon, whose second-string side were hammered by La Rochelle in the Top 14 last night.

It will be no surprise if Munster pitch up well for that big game in France, but McMillan wants his men to bring the same kind of mental focus to each and every game in their season.

“Nights like tonight [in Ulster] are just as important to us,” said McMillan.

“I’ve seen our ability to get up for big games, but the consistency of performance is one thing that I’ve been consistent about right from the get-go.

“We want to be featuring at the back end of the competition. We can’t get excited when we’re playing on a big stage in front of big crowds in the European Cup and then not show up on other nights when it’s half-snowing and it’s a five or six-hour bus trip away from where we are.

“These are the nights where we actually need to front up and that’s what disappoints me. We’re going to lose some games, some days we’re not going to play as pretty as we would have liked, but it doesn’t make me feel good to think that we’ll only get excited about next week.”