GRAHAM ROWNTREE LIKES to stick to his key message during a post-match debrief with the media.
After watching his side fall to an 18-13 Champions Cup defeat against Toulouse yesterday, the Munster head coach’s short summation of the game was that the French side had executed when close to the tryline, and that this was an area his team needed to be better in. He’d repeat this view multiple times when breaking down a game that saw Munster start brightly before Toulouse woke up and took a grip of proceedings.
An early Joey Carbery try, arriving on the back of a fast, positive Munster start, had the home crowd in good voice before the skies darkened and the occasion took a turn.
Toulouse wing Matthis Lebel finished a fine team move just after the 20 minute mark and replacement Lucas Tauzin pounced for their second shortly after the half-time break, with eight points from the boot of Thomas Ramos keeping Munster at bay as the thick fog which had been hanging in the air all day further enveloped the stadium.
During that tense second period, the visibility deteriorated to a point where some supporters in the stands found the stadium big screen a better option than trying to peer through the haze before them. In the press box, the TV screens on hand became vital whenever the play reached the far touchline.
All in all, it made for a strange occasion and mixed feelings post-game. Some were frustrated with Munster’s lack of accuracy and territory in the second half. Others were encouraged by the bright passages of attacking play in the opening stages, with the Munster scrum also holding up well against a powerful Toulouse pack. The one constant was a feeling that referee Christophe Ridley could have been kinder to the home side as Munster saw a three-game winning run come to an end.
All that matters now is how the team react, with a very winnable trip to Northampton next on the cards. Rowntree was quick to try allay any fears that the defeat could halt the momentum that has been building in recent weeks.
“No, I won’t let that happen. No. We’re not going to let that happen,” he said.
That’s about as tough a test as you’ll get in world rugby. We’ll learn from it. We could have beaten them. We’ll fix what we can and keep making improvements, but no, (it won’t derail us).
“I see the way we’re challenging teams with ball in hand. I can see that, but we have to be better, more clinical, in their five metre and our five metre, it’s the same thing, particularly against a huge team like that.”
Another view put to Rowntree was that if his team can hit those levels week-in, week-out, they’ll cause most teams problems. His players trudged out of the freezing cold arena for the warmth of the dressing rooms feeling this was a game they left behind them.
“I would hope so. They’re a great team, as I keep saying. You’ve got challenges everywhere. Every breakdown is hot, the ball’s never dead, the ruck’s never won and they can play from everywhere. You’ve just got to be on red alert.
“I thought we dealt with that pretty well but again, power. So we’ll look at that going into next week but we’ve got to keep momentum. We’ve got some momentum. We’ve not been perfect the last three weeks but we’ll look at what we can do better and we’ll keep driving forward.
“How about the (Toulouse) breakdown? We spoke about that and they were shooting out of defence. They were very good. We’ll look at that. As I said, that’s a proper test that, against a great French team. Top of the league in France for a reason. That’s like playing an international (side), challenges everywhere, from their power game to the breakdown to defence.”
Sitting beside Rowntree was Munster back row Gavin Coombes.
“There’s aspects of the attack where it looked like we could have broken them,” Coombes added.
“Maybe our breakdown let us down a small bit at times, defensively we got after them but one or two times our discipline cost us. There’s definitely things we can work on, aspects we can learn from and take away that were good for us.
“It’s a completely different system to the way we were running things the last couple of seasons, so these things take time.
It’s showing week on week that we’re improving, we need to stick at it. There’s no point changing what we’re doing just because we’ve one loss. We’ve to stick at it and back what we’re doing.”
The losing bonus point they managed to pocket could be key, but if that is to count down the line they need to get results against Northampton, who welcome Munster to Franklin’s Gardens next Sunday before visiting Thomond Park in January.
The Saints have been struggling for form in the Premiership and began their own European campaign with a heavy 46-12 loss at La Rochelle on Saturday. Munster should hold no fear when they make the short skip across the pond next weekend. They have the players and the quality to pick up their first Champions Cup win of the season.
“They’ll be licking their wounds as well,” Rowntree said of Northampton.
“They’re at home and they can play, they can score tries. I know all their coaching crew. They’re good lads, I’ve got a lot of respect for them, gut we’ll deal with that at the back end of the week.
“We’ll tidy the game up and put the game to bed over the next few days, lick our wounds as I keep saying, and we’ll keep driving forward.”
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Originally published at 07.15
