Munster 19
Gloucester 33
MUNSTER SHIPPED FIVE first-half tries and slipped to a second defeat this pre-season as Gloucester punished an error-strewn performance at Musgrave Park.
The Premiership side ran out 33-19 victors despite not scoring in the second half, with Munster left to rue defensive disconnects, soft tackling, and general ring-rust in attack.
Tries by Charlie Atkinson, Ollie Thorley, Max Llewyllyn, Afo Fasogbon, George Barton — four of the five of them converted by fullback Barton — gave Gloucester a lead at the break which proved unassailable as both sides emptied their benches in a more experimental second half.
Munster took an early lead through Liam Coombes, but further tries by Ruadhán Quinn and first-time starter Jack Oliver in either half scarcely kept them in touch with their Premiership opponents.
New Munster signing Thaakir Abrahams also made his first start in red in front of 4,497 fans at Musgrave Park but, aside from the odd electrical spark, he found himself starved of opportunities to leave his mark.
Munster did seek out the South African at the very first opportunity: from a scum inside the Gloucester half, Billy Burns pinged a picture-perfect cross-kick out left to Abrahams who raced it 20 metres further upfield.
While the rapid wing was eventually hauled down, his burst gave Munster excellent field position from which Liam Coombes eventually opened the scoring after a lengthy goal-line stand from Gloucester.
Coombes, however, handed back those seven points immediately after Billy Burns’ conversion.
The Skibbereen native turned awkwardly into Gareth Anscombe’s restart, colliding with Seán O’Brien in the process. The ball bounced backwards off Coombes’ shoulder and into a corridor of space in which Gloucester inside centre Charlie Atkinson pounced to score just left of Munster’s sticks. Fullback George Barton levelled from the tee.
To make matters worse for Coombes, he was forced off with an injury before play resumed. Patrick Campbell replaced him on the right wing.
Nearing the end of an otherwise scrappy first quarter, Gloucester ominously clicked into gear and pieced together a sumptuous move to retake the lead.
Wing Ollie Thorley provided the finishing touch after wonderful hands by Tomos Williams, Max Llewyllyn and George Barton carved Munster open down the left edge. Barton was again spot-on with the extras after Thorley significantly narrowed his angle.
And whereas Gloucester smartly rebuffed Munster’s attempted reply, Munster’s defence was quickly being reduced to rag order.
It was torn to shreds again on 25 minutes by outside centre Llewyllyn, who waltzed through a glaring hole, shrugged off a tame attempted tackle by Mike Haley, and easily stepped the scrambling Abrahams to score under the posts. Anscombe stretched Gloucester’s lead to 21-7.
Ruadhán Quinn then finished powerfully for an unconverted score after a Munster lineout maul was stopped short, but Gloucester were having to work far less for their own scores.
The visitors built a 33-12 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half: tighthead Afo Fasogbon firstly dove over from close range after some wonderful hands in midfield and a subsequent break by Tomos Williams. Then, fullback Barton walked one in from a different post code, a score which tested the patience of the home support. Barton converted the second of those two tries.
Gloucester again made a goal-line stand up the other end and went in at the break 21 points to the good.
Thankfully for Munster, George Skivington switched out virtually his entire backline at half-time, with sole survivor Charlie Atkinson moving from inside centre to out-half.
Munster, meanwhile, made just one change at the break, with Patrick Campbell — a first-half replacement in his own right — subbed off for Tom Farrell. Shane Daly consequently shifted from 13 to the right wing. (Campbell, thankfully, wasn’t injured: he came back on as a blood sub for Mike Haley later in the second half.
Musgrave Park favourite Seán Edogbo was among the five Munster forwards unleashed from the bench on 48 minutes and, almost immediately, he combined nicely with Abrahams for what looked like an invigorating Munster score. The young back row was pulled back by referee Andrew Cole, however, to pull it back for a forward pass earlier in the move.
Munster did eventually register the first score of the second half, first-time starter Jack Oliver with the snipe from the Gloucester line after a testing 55 minutes to that point. Billy Burns reduced the deficit to 14 with the close-range conversion.
A quietish debut for Abrahams ended a couple of minutes shy of the hour mark as Mike Haley returned to the field following a blood sub and Pa Campbell stayed put on the left wing.
With just over 15 minutes remaining, Munster let slip a couple of gilt-edged opportunities to bring the gap back to a single score. Garryowen recruit Bryan Fitzgerald was particularly unlucky as he created space down the left edge but appeared to slip as he attempted to send over Alex Kendellen in the corner, causing him to partly botch his pass.
From a scrum penalty soon afterwards, the hosts knocked on the door again but Gloucester held them up over the line. It was emblematic of a game in which the Premiership side had more answers than Munster were able to ask questions.
With just over eight minutes remaining, Tom Farrell had a try under the sticks chalked off for a knock-on in the lead-up. The result from that point felt beyond Munster, who continued to get in their own way as far as full-time.
Scorers for Munster:
Tries: Liam Coombes, Ruadhán Quinn, Jack Oliver. Cons: Billy Burns (2/3). Pens: n/a.
Scorers for Gloucester:
Tries: Charlie Atkinson, Ollie Thorley, Max Llewyllyn, Afo Fasogbon, George Barton. Cons: George Barton (4/5). Pens: n/a.
Munster: Mike Haley; Liam Coombes, Shane Daly, Seán O’Brien, Thaakir Abrahams; Billy Burns, Jack Oliver; Josh Wycherley, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Gavin Coombes, Fineen Wycherley; Ruadhán Quinn, Alex Kendellen, Jack O’Donoghue (C).
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Scott Buckley, Eoghan Clarke, Jeremy Loughman, John Ryan, Ronan Foxe, Conor Ryan, Jack Daly, Seán Edogbo, Luca Cleary, Tony Butler, Tom Farrell, Bryan Fitzgerald, Gordon Wood, Patrick Campbell.
Gloucester: George Barton, Christian Wade, Max Llewyllyn, Charlie Atkinson, Ollie Thorley, Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Jamal Ford Robinson, Jack Singleton, Afo Fasogbon, Freddie Clarke, Ruan Ackermann, Ciao James, Harry Taylor, Zach Mercer.
Replacements: Ciaran Knight, Gareth Blackmore, Alfie Petch, Freddie Thomas, Deiane Gwynne, Jack Clement, Caolan Englefield, Jack Reeves, Louis Hillman-Cooper, Matt Ward, Morgan Adderly-Jones, George Knowles, Lewis Ludlow, Charlie Chapman.
Referee: Andrew Cole
Assistant referees: Andrew Fogarty, Tomás O’Sullivan
TMO: Stephen Curtin
Ominous for Leinster if these youngsters from Toulouse can almost put La Rochelle to the sword. Leinster aren’t exactly firing on all cylinders either and look stunted in their attack. Sunday against La Rochelle, who are 4th favs @ 8/1, will see where they are.
@Lulu: Larogchelle should be far more worried after last night, than Leinster. They looked blunt and hopeless against an aggressive defense. Run by a bunch of children, 3 teenagers in that Toulouse backline. Leinster’s defense will eat them alive if they’re that poor next week.
@Lulu: Back in your box, wasn’t too long ago Leinster put out teams like Toulouse did and swept the league.
@Robert O’Connor: CC and a league are 2 different animals, Leinster under Nienbar are playing the South African game of puke rugby, all defence and a blunt attack.
OGara will have his team primed to take on Leinster but it really doesn’t matter because Toulouse will win it outright !
@Lulu: stunted in attack.. Yes 11/11 wins averaging more than 4 tries a game is a real stumbling start to the season. They’re only going to get better so I wouldn’t be so worried about Leinster
@Lulu: And yet you’re praising Toulouse based on something they did in their league? Back. In. Your. Box
@adizlack93: 11 wins against average and less than average teams. Wait until you come up against the big boys and hopefully you won’t choke ….. again!
@Robert O’Connor: I’m praising Toulouse as Champions of Europe and at the moment the best team in Europe.
Back in your runners-up box !
@Lulu: I assume by less than average, you mean Munster.
La Rochelle are simply not firing this season, talks of ROG looking for an international gig (bar Wales) haven’t helped. Leinster should beat them comfortably next weekend.
I wouldnt read too much into that game. Plenty of shadow boxing going on. In rugby these days it is hard to know what is real and what is imaginary. Only next week will we see the real LOR. Like others, I think they have peaked but they still bring a lot of raw power. Leinster to win but in doing so we will be better able to calibrate the Nienbar project and the South Affricanation of Leinster. Those who like attacking, resourceful rugby will be rooting for Toulouse or Bordeau in the CC. Nienbar is a destroyer of rugby as it should be played – all emphat on defence. SA won the RWC with these horrible tactics which Leinster are now embracing.
You forgot “double world cup winning” destroyer of rugby as it should be played …and maybe 5 stars for Leinster later this year playing this drab stuff..I say sack him and send him back to the republic …
@JJB: your comment is definitely more on the imaginary side anyway
@Stuart: Winning at all costs mentality is what you espouse, fair enough. SA were lucky to succeed with that turgid style in 2023 and but for Steph de Toit would have failed. In terms of the game generally it is retrograde and will do little to enhance the product beyond the current limited pool. Watching SA in 2003 was painful …. The current iteration (post Nienbar) is much more palatable and congruent with the principles of rugby holistically. Backs do have a function. Thankfully Toulouse, Bordeau and the better English clubs agree. Leinster used to before the contamination occurred. The other Irish provinces are irrelevant in a CC discussion unfortunately.
@adizlack93: thank you for the deeply insightful and meaningful contribution. Did you contrive this all by yourself.? A genius in the making ….
@JJB: pipe down you bitter little man. I cringed reading your response to a Saffer about how the sport should be played. Pro sport is all about winning trophies, as Leinster know too well
@adizlack93: you need to be careful about what genders you use when engaging in this diatribe….. i am contemplating my own preferred pronouns these days. It looks like I am dealing with a exhibit A neanderthal who makes assumptions about preferred reference ( butter little man – really?). There was me thinking you are all progressive and modern in D4.
@JJB: Jeez… What did Jacques do to you when he was Munster coach? Did he cut you off at a junction; or maybe he didn’t sign your autograph book; or did he leave, become a successful double world cup winner and then join the team you hate most in the world? Ah… maybe that’s it!!
@Paul Ennis: just hate the brand of rugby he peddles. He is to rugby what J mc Guiness is to GAA football. Look how that went…. I used to begrudgingly admire Leinster dismantling teans with attacking prowess. What you get now is effective muck – attrition and scrum penalties in last Q – it might win the cup but few admirers… Nienbar’s vision of the game is turgid and needs big bruisers-14 of them. The question is are the Leinster boys as tough as the SA’s to execute these shit tactics such that a CC trophy is the outcome. Time will tell.
@JJB: And did you feel the same way when he was Munster coach?
@Paul Ennis I did in fact – too much SA influence never sits well with me to be frank.
@JJB: Ok… that’s fair enough. We can lie to others but not ourselves. You know what is in your own heart so who am I to judge or say I don’t believe you. So I won’t go down that road.
If Toulouse rested the first team can we expect a full string side in Durban next weekend? Would love to see du pont play a game outside of Europe and show the SH what he can do…
@Stuart: yes confirmed ..good stuff
https://www.planetrugby.com/news/antoine-dupont-set-for-first-southern-hemisphere-appearance-in-almost-eight-years#:~:text=Dupont%20to%20return%20to%20action%20in%202025&text=The%20brilliant%20scrum%2Dhalf%20made,the%20home%20of%20the%20Sharks.
@Stuart: do you know if Sharks will have a full deck to choose from? Haven’t seen Etzebeth or Luke Am in a while? also think Fassi took a knock last time out. Would great to see two full teams go at it in SA
@adizlack93: seems to be a bit of a mixed bag..etzebeth and bongibshould be back. Fassi and am still out ..Williams I think is out..https://www.citizen.co.za/sport/rugby/sharks-injury-update-etzebeth-bongi-mbonambi-esterhuizen-toulouse/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2PYykXb2ZfaMyGhVQLmBGrq0db2twEIa6w_7_KKFs1S7kwU-4-wzElAIE_aem_Y_PRC5DPbUeSgCsx5o5v0g
@Stuart: Does the SH not watch rugby except with parochialism? DuPont hardly needs to show anybody anywhere what he can do . I think this has been self evident for many years now. Hardly your type of player anyway given your apostle status towards Nienbar’s abhorrent philosophy and style. Dupont likes to move the ball forward and be offensive- anathema to you surely.
@JJB: winning is the only statistic that matters and Leinster are 100% this season you clown
@adizlack93: I will freeze this comment and revisit in May you sanctimonious tool. Pro sport revolves around winning predominantly as you lamely posit. That said there is a need to mind the sporting culture of the game and its appeal. Defensive formations as an absolute runs contrary. That is my point and it remains. Why would any athletic, fast young player with choices stick with rugby if it becomes a “grunt contest” only which is Nienbar’s creed and now Leinsters. SA winning the WC last time was not good for the greater objectives of rugby as a sport. Cringe all you like – i really couldn’t care less . Secondly I find SA supporters to be painfully arrogant as a generalism so I am indifferent about their sensitivities.
I thought the URC referees were bad. The ref in this match was awful…..
Exciting game for a neutral fan. Toulouse proving their huge budget is being put to good use. Incredible depth in their squad. These kids really gave La Rochelle a run for their money.
@Jonny Miller: I watch the Top 14, every week, all the referees except two, are terrible.
La Rochelle well past their peak at this stage.
They were shocking last night. Leinster should win this game handy.