IAN COSTELLO FELT Northampton Saints were deserved winners at Franklin’s Gardens after watching his Munster team come out on the wrong side of a nine-try Champions Cup thriller.
The win saw Northampton wrap up top spot in Pool 3 and while Munster showed plenty of heart to keep in the contest right to the end, the Munster interim head coach was clearly frustrated with what he felt was a disappointing team performance.
The visitors led by three points at the break but came under pressure after half-time, with Gavin Coombes yellow-carded late in the first half and Northampton turning the screw across the third quarter.
“To be fair I think they deserved it,” said Costello.
“I think they capitalised really well on the yellow card that period just before and after half time. They scored 12 points, and we struggled to get our hands on the ball in the third quarter and we knew that was going to be really important.
So I suppose it gave them a lead, we got close enough in the end but I think bottom line is we weren’t good enough tonight and didn’t deserve to win it.”
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Munster saw plenty of ball in the first half but were left frustrated by a series of unforced errors. For the second week running their handling let them down, while there were also issues at the lineout and breakdown.
“There was actually a bit of a mix. Handling errors and probably breakdown, I think they counter-rucked really well, some of that is down to our habits, some of it is how we present the ball.
“So I think there was a bit of a mixture tonight and a key part of our game plan was keeping the ball because they’re so good and they’re so dangerous attack-wise and we didn’t do that to the standard that we needed to do it tonight.
Munster interim head coach Ian Costello. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“The big thing was that third period. They were really good ball in hand, we were inaccurate, gave away a couple of penalties that allowed them go deep into our line. They were lethal as we know off strikes. When you give them that much field position through our own inaccuracies that’s what’s going to happen.”
Munster had hoped to get a big energy lift from their bench but Costello felt that impact was hampered by the momentum Northampton enjoyed across a dominant start to the second half.
“We got a huge bounce off the bench last week, bringing four subs on, we were looking for the same impact today,” he added.
“Probably got disrupted with Gavin getting sin binned and we looked to get the four of them on with Gavin, looking for that swing in momentum. We didn’t quite get it. To be fair to them, I though the next 10 minutes they were really strong. We struggled to get our hands on the ball, when they’ve got that much ball they’re a very, very dangerous side.”
Despite the disappointment, Munster also played plenty of good rugby in Northampton, led by an excellent performance from Jack Crowley at 10.
The province are safely through to the round of 16 and will learn their destination tomorrow. They currently sit second in Pool 3 on 12 points, with Saracens (10 points) at home to Castres (9pts) tomorrow.
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'Bottom line is we weren't good enough and didn't deserve to win it'
IAN COSTELLO FELT Northampton Saints were deserved winners at Franklin’s Gardens after watching his Munster team come out on the wrong side of a nine-try Champions Cup thriller.
The win saw Northampton wrap up top spot in Pool 3 and while Munster showed plenty of heart to keep in the contest right to the end, the Munster interim head coach was clearly frustrated with what he felt was a disappointing team performance.
The visitors led by three points at the break but came under pressure after half-time, with Gavin Coombes yellow-carded late in the first half and Northampton turning the screw across the third quarter.
“To be fair I think they deserved it,” said Costello.
“I think they capitalised really well on the yellow card that period just before and after half time. They scored 12 points, and we struggled to get our hands on the ball in the third quarter and we knew that was going to be really important.
Munster saw plenty of ball in the first half but were left frustrated by a series of unforced errors. For the second week running their handling let them down, while there were also issues at the lineout and breakdown.
“There was actually a bit of a mix. Handling errors and probably breakdown, I think they counter-rucked really well, some of that is down to our habits, some of it is how we present the ball.
“So I think there was a bit of a mixture tonight and a key part of our game plan was keeping the ball because they’re so good and they’re so dangerous attack-wise and we didn’t do that to the standard that we needed to do it tonight.
“The big thing was that third period. They were really good ball in hand, we were inaccurate, gave away a couple of penalties that allowed them go deep into our line. They were lethal as we know off strikes. When you give them that much field position through our own inaccuracies that’s what’s going to happen.”
Munster had hoped to get a big energy lift from their bench but Costello felt that impact was hampered by the momentum Northampton enjoyed across a dominant start to the second half.
“We got a huge bounce off the bench last week, bringing four subs on, we were looking for the same impact today,” he added.
“Probably got disrupted with Gavin getting sin binned and we looked to get the four of them on with Gavin, looking for that swing in momentum. We didn’t quite get it. To be fair to them, I though the next 10 minutes they were really strong. We struggled to get our hands on the ball, when they’ve got that much ball they’re a very, very dangerous side.”
Despite the disappointment, Munster also played plenty of good rugby in Northampton, led by an excellent performance from Jack Crowley at 10.
The province are safely through to the round of 16 and will learn their destination tomorrow. They currently sit second in Pool 3 on 12 points, with Saracens (10 points) at home to Castres (9pts) tomorrow.
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Champions Cup Ian Costello Munster Reaction Rugby Northampton Saints