AS JACK O’DONOGHUE was carted off at the Sportsground yesterday inhaling deeply on the ‘green whistle’ given to players for quick pain relief after suffering acute injuries, Graham Rowntree might have wondered if Munster have fallen under a curse.
The southern province had already lost first-choice tighthead prop Oli Jager to a head injury in the opening stages of their 22-9 defeat to Connacht, adding to a list of walking wounded that had already been of a staggering length.
Munster faded in the final quarter of the game yet again and while there was lots of stuff directly in their control that let them down, the sheer scale of their injury crisis is one obvious cause for the lack of impact in the second half of games.
It is of major relief to Munster that they don’t have a game this coming weekend, giving them time to hope that there might be a few returning faces for the massive Champions Cup visit to Toulon on Saturday 13 January.
Among those missing yesterday’s defeat in Galway through injury were Peter O’Mahony, RG Snyman, Diarmuid Barron, Jean Kleyn, Alex Nankivell, and Mike Haley, all of whom would be part of Munster’s first-choice team.
Joey Carbery would have started with Jack Crowley being rested in line with IRFU player management guidelines, while Munster were also missing Edwin Edogbo, Dave Kilcoyne, Fineen Wycherley, Niall Scannell, Roman Salanoa, Eoghan Clarke, Patrick Campbell, Liam Coombes, Jack Daly, and Cian Hurley.
The Munster injury list has the makings of a good matchday 23 and though Rowntree has rightly continued to stress that his team could still be winning games, there’s no doubt that the absences have made his life very difficult. Indeed, he could be forgiven for thinking that next month’s friendly games against the Crusaders and Harlequins might not have been such a good idea after all.
Having 12 injuries in the forwards is about as far from ideal as you can get given that so many games are heavily influenced by what those big men do. Yesterday against Connacht, Rowntree’s men consistently struggled to get over the gainline with their ball carries, which in turn meant their usually clever attack was blunt. Even in dire conditions, two tryless games in a row will hurt.
They gave up a crucial scrum penalty to go 12-9 down on the scoreboard, while their lineout was close to shambolic as they lost six of their 16 throws including a five-metre overthrow for Connacht’s late game-sealing try.
The weather conditions made life tough but Munster’s 63% return at the lineout – which doesn’t factor in some very scrappy wins – was made to look even worse by Connacht having a 100% return. The western province only had nine lineouts in total but Dave Heffernan was able to connect with his jumpers on a day when Scott Buckley struggled to do that for Munster.
It’s not just about the throwing for Munster, whose lineout has been poor all season. The movement, lifting, and jumping are lacking consistent rhythm. Forwards coach Andi Kyriacou has a big job on his hands to improve this element of their game but again, it’s obvious that the chopping and changing due to injuries is unhelpful.
Munster have insisted that they’re staying optimistic during this tricky patch, with one win in their last six games. Rowntree has pointed out to his players that they recovered from a troubling start to last season – as well as a dip near the end of it – to win the URC.
Still, this must be a frustrating spot to find themselves. The players’ exasperation was audible yesterday over the ref mic, a touch of desperation in their appeals perhaps hinting at a feeling that nothing is going their way right now.
This is always a tricky period of the season for any team. Contract negotiations continue behind the scenes and players are considering the possibility of moving on or being moved on at the end of the season.
Former captain Peter O’Mahony is among the list of players on Rowntree’s desk in that regard. The 34-year-old is set to come off his IRFU central contract at the end of his campaign and Munster have been facing the prospect of absorbing his salary into their provincial budget if they want to keep him. Conor Murray is in the same boat so Munster have had big decisions to make.
Carbery’s deal is up this summer too and his last negotiation came at a time when he was Munster’s main man and still firmly in the Ireland mix. Rowntree works with head of rugby operations Ian Costello on retention, as well as succession planning, and it’s tricky business.
But while they ponder the long-term future, Munster will be feeling they’re due a break in the short term.
Unfortunately, some of the players on the injury list still have a long road ahead of them. Edgobo’s latest Achilles injury is an obvious concern, while O’Donoghue’s knee injury looked severe. There are others awaiting surgery or going through the slog of rehab.
If Munster can welcome back the likes of O’Mahony, Wycherley, and one or two others, as well as having Crowley and Craig Casey returning from their rest, Rowntree will feel there’s enough there to rescue their Champions Cup campaign this month.
So much rests on these upcoming clashes with Toulon in France and then Northampton at Thomond Park.
Munster need to be more potent and powerful with ball in hand, they must be more accurate at the breakdown, their decision-making in the middle third of the pitch has to be better, and they urgently need their lineout to click.
Even taking into account the injuries, that stuff is in their control.
After his first season as a head coach ended with a surprise trophy, Rowntree is now learning even more about the challenges and stresses of the job.
