LET’S GET DOWN to brass tacks: Munster are a dry-weather team.
That’s not a comment on their attitude, nor is it even intended to be insulting. It is simply the reality of their squad profile, and it was the cold reality behind tonight’s hugely disappointing home defeat to Northampton Saints.
Graham Rowntree’s side have proven themselves on a dry track as recently as their exhilarating success at the Stade Mayol last weekend, when they inflicted upon Toulon only a fifth ever home defeat in their European history. It’s no coincidence, either, that their astonishing crusade through the championship rounds of last season’s URC took place while it was dry overhead and firm underfoot in Glasgow, Dublin and Cape Town.
In neat weather that lends itself to high ball-in-play time, Mike Prendergast’s attack can feel irrepressible and Munster, by extension, can look irresistible.
But when the first buckets of Orange Warning-worthy rain were tipped over Thomond Park during the final third of tonight’s encounter with Northampton, that sinking feeling was all too familiar.
It is especially pronounced in the absence of their three most dynamic locks — RG Snyman, Jean Kleyn and Edwin Edogbo — but Munster simply don’t boast the power across their pack to play 10-man rugby when the conditions dictate that they must. They are currently built to win a race, not an arm wrestle.
Gavin Coombes’ 48th-minute try, Munster’s third, gave the hosts a 10-point advantage over a Northampton side that had lost hooker Curtis Langdon to a red card. It would have seemed unfathomable at that juncture that Munster would fail to secure a four-try bonus en route to a resounding victory, not to mind that they would conspire to suffer a seventh-ever European Cup defeat at Thomond.
It was instead Phil Downson’s high-flying Saints who exhibited proper game management, and they did so even before the heavens reopened above an already soggy Limerick.
The Premiership side were clearly comfortable in the knowledge that Munster would be significantly weakened by having to dip into their bench, where they were lacking in sufficiently impactful front-row options and where they were lacking a lock altogether (they had also already lost Thomas Ahern to Langdon’s right knee).
They harnessed the strong wind to incrementally chip away at Munster’s lead through the boot of 21-year-old out-half Fin Smith, whose efforts included a spectacular drop-goal from virtually the same blade of grass as where Ronan O’Gara had broken Northampton hearts in 2011.
Northampton regained a foothold of their own volition simply by boxing more cleverly than Munster down the stretch. The ensuing downpour merely complemented their efforts.
It also helped to offset their numerical disadvantage: suddenly lacking power up front and using a bar of soap for a ball, Munster lost the right to exploit the edges where they had previously made Langdon’s absence count.
By the time Sammy Graham broke through the middle of a maul to dot down what proved to be the winning score with nine minutes remaining, Rowntree’s side already looked stuck in the mud.
Munster were far from terrible but they will be embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding their defeat.
The harshest truth for them to mull over during Monday’s video review will be that, irrespective of the conditions, many of their key men were shaded by their opposite numbers.
To his credit, try-scorer Peter O’Mahony was excellent before departing the field with an injury on 65 minutes, by which stage his side remained in control. But it will be the heroic efforts of the blindside opposite him, Courtney Lawes, for which the game will be best remembered.
Craig Casey put together one of his best hours in Munster red and Jack Crowley was typically effervescent, particularly in the first half, but Munster’s half-backs struggled when the scope of the game narrowed late on. It was instead Alex Mitchell, who opened the scoring at Thomond, and the totemic Fin Smith outside him, who turned the screw and stole the show.
You could go on.
The final 10 minutes were reminiscent not only of Munster’s recent defeats to Connacht and Leinster, but of their two most recent meetings with Northampton in Limerick.
The differences were that in 2011, they were able to fashion an iconic O’Gara drop-goal and last season, while a man short following Jack O’Donoghue’s early red, a Shane Daly-inspired defensive heave thwarted Northampton’s comeback.
This time around, it was 14 Saints who produced the miracle at Thomond Park.
Munster will likely strengthen their tight five in the summer but in the meantime, they must find a way to better manage the conditions. Otherwise, nights like these will begin to feel less miraculous for their opposition.
