THE SENSE OF relief around Thomond Park last night was palpable. The province had to battle hard to get the better of Saracens, scoring only three points across a scrappy, error-ridden first half which suggested the home support might be in for another uncomfortable night.
Yet for all their frustrations Munster were doing enough to stay in the fight, and in the second period they changed the script. Tries from Dian Bleuler and John Hodnett in quick succession around the hour mark provided the knockout blows but the five-point victory was also built on a determined defensive effort.
It wasn’t the prettiest Munster performance but there was a resilience in the way they held in before finishing on top of their visitors, with their strong endgame powered by a momentum-changing effort from the Munster bench.
All that matters is they got the job done. The result sets Munster on course for the Champions Cup knockouts and it also means they’ll travel to Northampton Saints on Saturday with a shot at booking a home game in the round of 16.
As Tadhg Beirne put it, this was “a proper Munster game”, and it might just be the type of performance which injects some energy into their season after a challenging run of results. Munster started their European campaign with a home win over Stade Francais but have since fallen to Castres (away) and Leinster (home) either side of a frantic URC win in Belfast.
“I think it’s been a tough couple of weeks at times,” said Beirne.
“The performances from the outside may not look like they’ve been the best, but in terms of what we said we were going to do and the opportunities we were creating, we knew we were actually doing well. We just had to stick with it and we were on the right side of one today thankfully, and hopefully we’ll do it again next week.
“Even the Leinster game, I know the scoreline wasn’t pretty for us but I thought, you know, we score one or two tries there it’s a different game, and it’s just about being a little bit more clinical. I know we talk about that all the time, it’s been an issue for us for a long time as well, being more clinical inside the opposition 22 and even today there were times we weren’t.
“So it’s still a massive work on for us and we’ll keep chasing it, but I think everything else we’re doing around the park, we’re doing it well and tactically the coaches have been spot on the last couple of weeks.
“We’ll keep pushing it and we’ll keep believing and buying into what they’re asking us to do.”
Beirne was immense for his team with a commanding display, and the Munster captain highlighted the impact made by the home bench – with Hodnett, Tom Ahern, Stephen Archer and Diarmuid Barron all introduced with half an hour remaining, before Brian Gleeson and John Ryan followed them into the action.
“We put a big emphasis on that throughout the week and credit to the coaches, they’ve been chatting to them as a group as well about the impact they can make when they come onto the field and I think you’ve seen that the performance lifted when they made those subs, for sure.”
In the end Saracens were held tryless, with all of their 12 points coming from penalties.
“Obviously that’s been a big work on for us as well considering how we started the season,” added Beirne. “Defensively we’ve been working hard on getting better there and I think we’ve seen that today.”
Saracens had travelled to Limerick targeting a statement win on the road but having led for 60 minutes, their efforts ultimately fell short.
“It’s tough,” said Saracens head of rugby Mark McCall.
“It’s a well-fought game. It’s greasy and slippery and the kicking game was very important to both teams. We controlled territory without getting many big chances, but 6-3 wasn’t maybe all that great for the control that we had.
“There was just a 10-minute period, we give them a couple of chances to score and they were clinical enough to take them to be honest. But I’m proud of a lot of what this new team managed. It’s a tough place to come. I thought we fought and scrapped really well. We gave the best that we could.
“It is not an easy place to come as an opposition player and there’s lots to learn for the whole team really. But at the basis of everything we’ve got to be a team who fights and scraps no matter where we are and I felt we did that.
“We made it a real contest,” he added. “We made it a real scrap and we were winning that scrap for a large part of the game up until the hour mark really, and then we had about seven minutes where they were able to take the chances they got.”
Great win, terrible game, poor ref. Roll on next weekend
@Liam23: ah twasnt terrible Liam, lots of errors but twas a good watch imho
@Liam23: I watched the Toulouse and the Bordeaux games that day too and I thought the Munster game was by far the best of the 3. Good win too.
Great result. Munster need to hold onto Dian Bleuler, he made a huge difference in an error strewn game. Diarmuid Barron, Hodnett and Tom Ahern need to be starting next week. They are needed to built up a scoreline before the bench comes on. I gather Nankivell will miss next week with his hamstring injury?
@Con Cussed: Bleuler looks like the most solid scrummaging loosehead in Irish rugby. We absolutely need to hold on to him.
@Michael Corkery: What does it take a gofundme or something?
@Con Cussed: IRFU permission I guess.
@Con Cussed: 1000% – backrow should be Ahern , Hodnet and Coombes
No reason to fear Northampton next week. They’re at a similar level to Saracens and ourselves. We made loads of unforced errors (especially our back 3) against Sarries and still won with our defense. If we get the error count down, we can make it a tight game next week. None of EP sides would finish in the top6 in T14.
@Michael Corkery: Be really great to take some revenge, classic Munster win away in the Champions Cup… Need to calm down before I get ahead of myself tho ;)
@Thesaltyurchin: In any case, we’re not playing Toulouse or UBB next week. No need to go there already beaten like last season.
Very frustrating to watch all those handling errors which seem to spread like an epidemic once they start but a great and much needed win for Munster nonetheless. Thought Crowley played well despite a couple of kicking errors….Beirne the heartbeat of the team, was everywhere and fully deserved MOTM….hopefully they can build on this moving forward.
As an aside, Costelloe doing a good job but think this dragging the heels on appointing head coach this far into season cannot have a settling or positive effect on the team. Also think it’s a bit disrespectful to Prendergast to keep him hanging if they don’t intend giving him the top job…
@Dolores Scully: Totally agree. Thought Tom Farrell was immense too between himself and Beirne it was very close. Beirne & Farrell saved the day so many times, unbelievable effort from the guys. It must be doubtful that Prendergast is getting the gig at this stage. Also, I’m not sure the selection for this game was correct. They need a strong team to build a head of steam before bringing the bench on. Ahern was badly missed in the first half.
@Con Cussed: the 2 that were picked ahead of Ahern – Wycherley and ÔDonoghue had good games. The thinking is that Ahern can wreak more havoc coming on when the defense’s are tired I believe. Our bench overall had a great impact which is important in tight games.
@Michael Corkery: Agreed, I was critical of the Wycherly selection but he proved me wrong. That was his best game in a long time. Very physical throughout and commanded the line out brilliantly. He deserves to go again next week with POM coming back in for JOD. I like the impact Ahern and Hodnett bring off the bench together.
Beirne shows why he is one of Ireland’s best again. His range of skills is so wide for a lock which is his USP. He is a fixed item on any timeshheet he is involved with. One of the world’s best and a down to earth guy to boot. Last night wasn’t pretty but with reinforcement through players re-emerging from injury they (Munster) will be harder to beat later in year than the late 24 version.
Great performance , Munster rolled back the years in that second half and their pack stood up to Sarries at crucial times . Hopefully they can replicate it again next week
How important is Hodnett to the team. He is the dog when O’ Mahony is missing.