AS DOWNRIGHT IRATE as Graham Rowntree tried to appear on Friday night after they fell to Ulster 21-14 in the United Rugby Championship, you have to wonder how much of that was reserved for everyone barring himself.
No doubt, he wouldn’t have wanted to lose. And there’s something about Ulster that brings something out in the Englishman.
Last year’s win away to Ulster, for example was taken as a real statement and a sign that the Rowntree Rugby era was up and running.
Prior to Friday, they had won in two of the previous three visits to southeast Belfast. Historically, it was never a welcoming place as they had lost 36 of their 55 visits to Ravenhill.
Even with all that, there remains an inscrutable fact sometimes about professional sport; you target some games, and some you don’t. Did Munster really, truly, desperately need to win this?
If they had, they would have picked a different team. Unquestionably.
Ulster on the other hand, targeted this game. They timed their in-game switches and unleashed Iain Henderson and Rob Herring, along with debutant Scott Wilson on 49 minutes; leaving them enough time to plant their feet at the end of the rope and start pulling.
The line-break statistics tell the tale of how Munster’s presence faded to a hologram after Craig Casey’s second try.
Would the momentum been allowed to shift just as much if Tadgh Beirne, Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony had been on the field?
In mitigation, and Rowntree fronted up to it before it even formed a question on reporters’ lips, he made the decision to leave them off.
“Those guys have played a lot of gametime in that World Cup and they were coming back into a short week,” he said.
“I stand by that. I stand by our selection this week.”
When the team do gather after a long coach ride back south and a weekend off, you’d imagine Rowntree and his staff will do an itemised stock-take.
They were expected to dominate a raw-looking Ulster scrum. Instead, the home team held their own until their Galacticos in the pack came in and brought it on home.
Munster, like a great deal of teams at this level, find themselves light on out-halves right now. With Ben Healy off to pursue a test career with Scotland and Joey Carbery only receiving wrist surgery this week, facing into months off, they are left with Jack Crowley and Tony Butler. The latter only made his first appearance in the win over Dragons.
Since Rowntree and attack coach Mike Prendergast have been able to put their stamp on the team, they have developed as a fast-paced possession-based attacking rugby side.
You could see that in the early stages, Ulster still working out dirty diesel left in the tank from the Galway Sportsgrounds, spent the first ten minutes in a daze and on an artificial surface the patterns and movements are snappy and zippy.
All of that is nice and pleasant until the tenderising process takes effect and the subs are rolled off.
There was something of the local colloquialism in the question to Rowntree when a reporter asked if he might give, ‘a wee’ word on the retirement of Andrew Conway last week, the winger finally giving up on a battle against a knee injury.
Universally loved and respected in Munster, his leaving robs the dressing room of a proper character, and you could sense Rowntree’s acute regret that it had to end like this for Conway.
“A ‘wee’ word?” Rowntree responded.
“Nah. What a man, what an icon of the club.
“It was an emotional meeting yesterday (last Thursday) when he told the playing group. We feel for him. He has worked exceptionally hard coming back from a long term knee injury and it was like having a new signing with him on deck.
“The way he speaks, the way he coaches lads on the field. But it wasn’t to be. His knee is at him. He has made a decision to control the situation.
“What else has he got to prove? I wish him all the best. We will miss him.”
Not least for his leadership?
“You don’t get them. We will have to bring some more through. They all start somewhere. Conway had to start somewhere. We have got some pretty good talent coming through, in the back three in particular.
“No, I was hugely saddened by the news. Saddened. But I respect his decision and wish him all the best. We will miss him.”
The to-do list just got a little longer.