NORMALLY, A DEFEAT bursts the bubble and deflates the momentum a team has built up.
In that sense, there’s no doubt that Munster have taken a hit. They flew home from France last night with a few regrets after letting a chance to shock Toulouse slip.
And yet, watching on from the pulsating stands at Stade Ernest-Wallon, it felt like this was confirmation that Munster’s apparent progress in recent months is real. Graham Rowntree’s side have recovered from a nightmare start to his reign and firmly put things on track.
They lost to les Toulousains but gave them a fright. But for Ben Healy’s yellow card and a couple of missed conversions, it might have been a famous victory that Munster were celebrating.
The best teams find a way to edge over the line so it’s clear that Munster aren’t one of the best teams yet. But it’s also increasingly apparent that Rowntree has the province moving in an exciting direction and that this project may even be ahead of schedule.
Based on the evidence of the last few seasons, it just didn’t seem possible that Munster could score a try like the one that Tadhg Beirne finished yesterday. With slick handling from Malakai Fekitoa, Gavin Coombes and Shane Daly, a clever dummy kick by Craig Casey before another offload, Joey Carbery’s cross-field kick, then more composed passing from John Hodnett and Calvin Nash to tee Beirne up, it was a joyous score of the highest calibre.
Hodnett’s first-half effort demonstrated that Munster can mix it at close quarters with one of the most powerful teams around, while their ability to rebound from a dire first quarter was impressive too. 11-0 down after 17 minutes, Munster steadied themselves and worked their way back into the game to lead twice in the second half.
The progress that Prendergast’s attack is making is the most eye-catching thing about this Munster side. The players are taking delight in being pushed to use their catch-pass skills and make more decisions. They love their high-tempo training. They have felt there was more in them than they were able to show over the last couple of years.
Defensively, there has also been development under Denis Leamy. Munster conceded a try to Toulouse in the first half yesterday but otherwise looked strong without the ball. The breakdown was a big issue for them, but that certainly feels fixable in a short space of time.
Rowntree and his coaches are getting more from players who Munster fans might have worried had hit their ceiling. Brave selection calls in recent weeks have been successful. They’re not picking on reputation or experience but on form and the players’ skillsets being suited to the task at hand. In doing so, they are creating far more competition for places than before. It’s a positive environment, but no one can be too comfortable.
Still, the cold facts are that Munster remain seventh in the URC table and will need to be close to faultless in the run-in as they look for a strong seeding for the knock-out stages and to ensure Champions Cup qualification for next season. To miss out on that would simply be disastrous. Munster travel to Benetton this weekend with little room for error.
And their two defeats to Toulouse mean that Munster are away to the Sharks in the round-of-16 of the Champions Cup, a situation that is obviously far from ideal. The travel element will be hugely challenging, particularly given that they’re back in South Africa two weeks later for a two-game URC tour. If they can get past the Sharks, a return to Toulouse for the quarter-finals looks the most likely scenario.
However, Rowntree calmly dealt with that poor start to the season, kept his entire playing squad and backroom set-up on task, and is now reaping greater rewards. Nothing has been decided yet and there is always scope for this to turn back the other way, but right now it feels like Munster are onto a good thing.
It would still be a surprise to see them win a trophy this season but that wasn’t really the expectation for this first season of the new era. The style of rugby Munster are playing has truly engaged their fanbase, there’s a renewed energy about the players, while the selection decisions are exciting their fans, so it’s clear that this project is starting to take shape.
Even if the end results are similar to what came before, there’s no doubt that the fresh focus is getting more people onboard.
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