MUNSTER HAVE HAD a tough few days since taking a battering in Bath.

Their reviews of the game have been brutally honest. Clayton McMillan has underlined in no uncertain terms that Munster let their loyal travelling supporters down. And that they let themselves down.

They’re determined to fix their lineout failings, their other inaccuracies, and their physical shortcomings that helped an excellent Bath team to race into a 28-0 lead after just 19 minutes at The Rec.

They need to as they look towards this Saturday’s second Champions Cup pool clash with Gloucester in Cork.

But McMillan and his coaching staff have also been doing their best to inject excitement and enthusiasm into the squad. They’ve been speaking about how Saturday’s crowd of more than 35,000 will be the biggest attendance ever at a home Munster game in the province, given that Páirc Uí Chaoimh has a bigger capacity than Thomond Park.

And in their determination to be better, Munster have been focusing on one key attacking statistic from last weekend’s defeat in Bath.

Munster had 10 entries into the Bath 22 over the course of the game but were only able to deliver two tries.

In contrast, Bath scored six tries in their seven visits to the Munster 22.

For senior coach Mike Prendergast, who is in charge of Munster’s attack, this is the obvious area that needs major improvement this weekend.

“We had a tough start,” said Prendergast. “That was the nature of the game.

“We went 28-0 down after 18 minutes, but got a try back. Then there was actually a five-minute block where we got into the 22 three times at about 29 minutes to 34, so we came away with nothing.

“I was saying it to the boys at the time – we get one score there and it’s a 28-14 game.

“You feel close enough then, you’re not a million miles away. 28-7 seems like a big, big distance, but we missed too many moments.

“We missed too many moments inside what we call the ‘score zone,’ inside the 22.”

Prendergast said Munster gave Bath “a release valve” too often. 

Even if Munster could have converted four of their 22 entries into tries, they would have at least grabbed a try-scoring bonus point while losing in Bath.

“It might sound defeatist, but with the start we had, we probably would have taken that, and that’s the reality.”

Prendergast praised JJ Hanrahan’s “outstanding” line kicking from penalties, with the out-half giving Munster lineout platforms inside the Bath 22 on several occasions.

Part of the feedback for Munster’s players was that they need to stay in the battle close to the tryline for longer.

“We lost the moments,” said Prendergast.

“It’s an area that the world-class players stay in those moments for long because you’re playing against a team like Bath.

“Paul O’Connell had a great phrase of ‘The opposition don’t have to miss a tackle for you to score.’

“So you’re going to have to go through a lot of moments to score against a team like that and unfortunately we lost a couple of those moments in those times that we were in the 22.”

Munster’s first try through Edwin Edogbo was a smart, snappy play from a five-metre tap penalty, but they couldn’t convert in other similar situations, including on the half-hour mark.

Prendergast agreed that Munster could potentially have shown more variation close to the line, but he said the heavy rain made things more challenging.

Sometimes, it just comes down to being more patient and more physical.

“There’s a saying we use, ‘Pound the rock’ a small bit more because conditions made it more difficult,” said Prendergast.

“When you’re that much behind, there is little room for error.

“Looking back, could we have had a bit more variation on it? Potentially, yeah, but at that moment we felt, you know, let’s pound the rock here and try and score from it.”

“We got ourselves in there a number of times. There was one just five minutes into the second half and, again, what it does is for belief, more so for the opposition than anything, it’s just the release valve, as I call it.

“They grow and that’s the way the game was, unfortunately for us.

“You talk about learning from it. You hear that a lot. But I think it’s about learning the moments, especially.

“When you’re in there, you’ve got to really appreciate how, when you’re that far behind in those conditions, how much it takes to get in there, and that’s probably the biggest one for me from a coaching perspective.”