Munster 19
Gloucester 28
A DIFFERENT-LOOKING MUNSTER found their feet in the second half but, ultimately, a 21-0 half-time deficit proved irretrievable as Graham Rowntree’s side were beaten by Gloucester at Musgrave Park.
Following this first outing under their tenure, Rowntree, along with his new attack coach Mike Prendergast and defence coach Denis Leamy, will have plenty to work on with their players in video sessions and on the training ground. In reality, though, it was a game not of two halves but of two games: Gloucester literally named a separate team for each half prior to kick-off and, by full-time, Munster had fielded all 31 players from their matchday squad.
There will be mild concerns with how an admittedly more experienced Gloucester side put Munster to the sword in the more settled first 40: an opening try by Ollie Thorley and two more by Chris Harris exposed errors on all sides of the ball. But a more disorganised second half was ‘won’ by the hosts, and the defining memory of those in attendance will surely be the celebrations of teenager Ruadhán Quinn who scored his side’s third and final try with a beastly finish.
Rowntree may even have wryly laughed at the degree to which his first pre-season fixture in charge got off to an inauspicious start. Within 10 minutes, Munster were 7-0 down, Jack O’Sullivan was off with a HIA, and Ben Healy was in the bin — for infringing in a maul.
The first quarter was a Gloucester onslaught: Adam Hastings popped them into the corner from a penalty within 90 seconds and, from the resulting lineout, they built their first attack in anger.
The visitors were given a penalty advantage as Munster strayed offside on their line. Gloucester went wide from right to left and Hastings floated a beautiful crossfield kick into the basket of left wing Ollie Thorley, who dotted down with his first touch. The grinning Hastings split the posts from the left-hand touchline for 7-0.
𝑻𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔
— Gloucester Rugby (@gloucesterrugby) August 26, 2022
Here are the two teams that will each play a half respectively tonight.#MUNvGLO pic.twitter.com/i6Jv3aeOog
It was number eight O’Sullivan’s withdrawal for a HIA, meanwhile, which heralded the emergence for a first senior appearance of the 18-year-old Ruadhán Quinn, who in March won a Munster Schools Senior Cup with Crescent and, in June, completed his Leaving Cert.
His back-row partner Alex Kendellen was pinged for going off his feet near midfield after four minutes and Hastings again punted Gloucester into the right-hand corner. From the resulting maul, which was making inroads before hitting the deck, Munster out-half Healy was immediately yellow-carded by Ulster branch referee Peter Martin, who excellently officiated his first game at senior provincial level. Healy was merely the fall guy after several Munster infringements near their own line in the opening minutes.
The hosts forced a knock-on over the line from Gloucester’s next attack, however, and eventually escaped via the boot of Rory Scannell.
The next 10 minutes played out in a similar vein. Munster’s first attack under Mike Prendergast played out without their sin-binned 10, and it was Gloucester who were making all the gains, Simon Zebo and Shane Daly combining to thwart one dangerous-looking advance down the right.
Munster were forcing their own, rarer attacking efforts and even Healy’s return from the bin didn’t immediately alleviate their struggles: it initially did the opposite, in fact, as the 23-year-old Tipp man had a flat pass inside the opposition’s 22′ intercepted by British and Irish Lion Chris Harris, who took it 90 yards to the Well end and left Hastings with the simplest of tasks to stretch the lead out to 14-0.
Munster began to show their teeth prior to the half-hour mark — Jack O’Donoghue looked to have picked up where he left off last season, and an ambitious attack from behind their own line sent Calvin Nash up as far as halfway — but Gloucester really should have scored a third try only for right wing Tom Seabrook to knock the ball on in Munster’s in-goal as he sauntered after a clever chip through by Hastings.
It wasn’t long coming in any case: the English Premiership side were getting serious purchase out of the maul and, from a resultant attack in Munster’s 22′, Mark Atkinson and his midfield partner Harris linked up beautifully on a switch with the powerful Scot crashing over. Hastings, again, added the extras for 21-0.
The difference between the two sides in the opening half was accentuated in their handling, Munster routinely spilling possession and Gloucester’s being almost pristine. The hosts looked all but out of ideas at the break — but there were plenty of players on the bench with their own ideas as to how the second half might play out, at least.
Gloucester switched things around totally as planned during the interval, while Munster made seven of their own changes: Malakai Fekitoa came on for his first appearance, replacing Rory Scannell; Dan Goggin swapped in for Chris Farrell; half-backs Paddy Patterson and Jack Crowley replaced Neil Cronin and Ben Healy; and Rowntree also completely switched his front row, with Liam O’Connor, Scott Buckley and Roman Salanoa on for Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron and Keynan Knox respectively.
Munster survived a ropey start to the second half before their new combinations began to click.
Albeit against a totally different Gloucester defence, Patterson and Crowley’s impact was pronounced: the scrum-half was lively, scooting, and the man outside him was testing inside shoulders.
Nine and 10 were instrumental as Munster finally got off the mark on 54 minutes, Shane Daly putting Calvin Nash over in the right-hand corner after an excellent, sustained attack from the home side.
Crowley’s conversion was off the mark but the Musgrave Park crowd was, at last, off its feet.
The second wasn’t long coming: Kendellen, one of the more impressive performers for either side on the night, burrowed over after some brilliant work in the build-up again by Daly and scrum-half Patterson, whose influence around the fringes was becoming transformative.
Crowley found the mark with his second conversion, narrowing the gap to nine points.
Gloucester, however, pushed it back out to 16 with a fourth try on 63 minutes, Jack Reeves going over in the right-hand corner and Evans adding the afters.
That score all but ended the game on the scoreboard but it took nothing from Munster’s improved energy in the second half. They worked their way back towards Gloucester’s line only for Daly — impressive otherwise — to knock on unchallenged.
In the midst of their efforts, there were first senior appearances for Paddy Kelly, Edwin Edogbo and Conor Phillips, while signed English hooker Chris Moore also debuted, coming on for replacement hooker Scott Buckley. Cork man Bryan O’Connor also emerged from Gloucester’s bench to bank some minutes in his hometown.
It was another debutant who rounded off the night with Munster’s third try, however: Paddy Patterson meandered into space off a scrum and fed Fekitoa, whose soft backhanded pass set off teenager Ruadhán Quinn wide in the Gloucester 22′. The recent Senior Cup winner made like a train towards the line, almost sending visiting 12 Giorgi Kveseladze out onto the Tramore Road such was the violence with which he bounced him.
It was a special moment for Quinn, who beamed and bounced his way back to halfway and was congratulated by virtually every Munster player on the pitch.
Scorers for Munster: Tries: Calvin Nash, Alex Kendellen, Ruadhán Quinn; Cons: Jack Crowley (2).
Scorers for Gloucester: Tries: Chris Harris (2); Ollie Thorley, Jack Reeves; Cons: Adam Hastings (3), Lloyd Evans
Munster
- 15. Simon Zebo
- 14. Calvin Nash
- 13. Chris Farrell
- 12. Rory Scannell
- 11. Shane Daly
- 10. Ben Healy
- 9. Neil Cronin
- 1. Josh Wycherley
- 2. Diarmuid Barron
- 3. Keynan Knox
- 4. Cian Hurley
- 5. Eoin O’Connor
- 6. Jack O’Donoghue (Captain)
- 7. Alex Kendellen
- 8. Jack O’Sullivan
Replacements:
- 16. Scott Buckley
- 17. Chris Moore
- 18. Roman Salanoa
- 19. James French
- 20. Liam O’Connor
- 21. Edwin Edogbo
- 22. Paddy Kelly
- 23. Ruadhán Quinn
- 24. Daniel Okeke
- 25. Paddy Patterson
- 26. Jack Crowley
- 27. Tony Butler
- 28. Malakai Fekitoa
- 29. Dan Goggin
- 30. Liam Coombes
- 31. Conor Phillips
Referee: Peter Martin (IRFU)
