A BRUISING PHYSICAL return to rugby was made all the more testing for Munster due to last week’s positive Coronavirus case in the academy.
Johann van Graan’s side had to cancel training as a precaution 10 days out from the season’s restart and captain Peter O’Mahony lamented having an extremely small full-contact training window ahead of today’s clash with Leinster.
“We had an eight-minute block on Tuesday where we just had eight minutes of contact. We went flat out, but it wasn’t ideal,” O’Mahony said after a 27-25 loss to the reigning Pro14 champions in an empty Aviva Stadium.
“I’m proud of the lads for that, because it’s a difficult thing to do; six months off to go into a game of that level, you need to be mentally prepared.”
Direct correlations can’t be conclusively drawn, but the lack of contact training is hard to ignore after Munster suffered a spate of tight five injuries in the early stages of the restart.
Already without the recovering Tadhg Beirne, Johann van Graan’s side lost their marquee summer signing RG Snyman (knee) in the opening minutes. His replacement Jean Kleyn (neck) also had to be withdrawn before the finish.
The lock issues came on top of James Cronin’s late withdrawal. Dave Kilcoyne stepped in as a starter and his ankle succumbed to the game’s physicality inside the opening 10 minutes.
Of the injuries, Snyman’s was the most concerning. The Springbok looked very unstable on his knee as he left the fray.
‘We’ll have to see what the scan says,” said Van Graan after labelling Snyman’s issue ‘pretty serious’. It was too early to suggest a time-frame for his recovery.
Look, he’s a tough man. He doesn’t come off the field pretty often. He went up, stole that line-out and fell pretty badly so we’re absolutely gutted about that.”
Throw the last update on Joey Carbery’s ankle into the mix and the body count makes for grim reading in Munster. The South African remains willing to take a philosophical view.
“Look, that’s rugby. That’s what this game is about. You’ve got to come through tough times. We’re really proud of the effort of the lads. We came and played against Leinster who haven’t lost here for a very long time.
“To lose two of your ball carriers in the tight five within the first seven minutes of the game coming up against a team of that calibre, with six forwards on the bench, it took a lot of guts from our guys to fight through that.
“Like I said, I’m very disappointed with the loss but it’s the first game in six months so I’ll just take a step backwards in terms of looking at it.”
The disappointment was writ large all over Munster players faces and bodies at the full-time whistle. O’Mahony stood hoovering in oxygen with his head down, CJ Stander did the same with his head up. Replacement scrum-half Craig Casey appeared livid after the ultra competitive scrum-half tapped the ball out of play to seal a losing bonus point rather than push for a winner from within his own 22.
“That was the call (made to Casey),” said O’Mahony facing the virtual press conference.
“A bonus point is important. We had just turned over the ball, but a lot of guys had gone 80 minutes, a lot of guys were out of position. So that was the correct call for us.
“There’s aspects that are very pleasing. We stayed in the fight. It’s a tough place to come and play. 11 down and we came within a kickable penalty.
“Every time we come to play here it was a serious battle, but we certainly were in the mix there.”
