THE NUMBERS LIE. Take it from us.
Well, some numbers do lie.
We use the example of the possession statistics from Munster’s win over Ulster in Kingspan Ravenhill. Ulster had 70% possession. They had 76% territory. In entries into the opposition’s 22, they had 15 to Munster’s seven. They won seven turnovers to Munster’s two.
And yet.
But here’s when the stats really work. In this game, Ulster made 92 tackles. Munster made 291. Yes. Two-Nine-One.
Of course, spin that whatever way you want. Ulster were hammering their gain lines repeatedly and Munster were extremely disciplined in holding them out. Their tackle success was 86%. Ulster’s was 71%.
The home side puffed and huffed. But they are the bluntest of blunt instruments.
In his post-match press briefing, Munster’s interim head coach Ian Costello made a point of saying that although it was a long bus ride home, he wouldn’t be watching the video.
Once the dictaphones were turned off though, he was asked where on the road he might switch on the video all the same.
“Ah, I’ll watch it alright. I’m too much of a nerd not to,” he replied.
What he might have seen will please him immensely. While he insists they have to be “infinitely better” when they face Leinster in the next game, this was a game that showed reserves of character.
“Loads to concern ourselves with around the performance to improve on, but loads to love about the character, the belief in the squad to score some cracking tries. Particularly that one at the end,” said Costello.
It’s worth recapping on that sequence. Ulster had scored a try on 65 minutes to take the lead. Munster answered them two minutes later.
Ulster looked as if they had it wrapped up with James McNabney’s try on 76 minutes. But Munster knew more.
As Niall Scannell explained afterwards, they knew the thing to do was to hoof the kick-off deep into the Ulster defence. Given the effort expended to gain those tries, it was a fair chance they were out on their feet and seeking some recovery time.
The obvious thing to do in such a scenario is hoof it back out, and so Ulster did; Munster put together a move and went over with Tom Farrell again the man.
“I can’t stress enough how good Tom has been for us this season. He’s played so many minutes,” said Costello.
“We were joking that he’s played his quota for last season and we’re not even halfway through yet. He’s been brilliant on and off the pitch, but tonight was definitely his best on-pitch performance.
“He would have been looking for a rest soon, but Alex (Nankivell) is going to get the next rest. His hamstring isn’t great after that clearout, so Tom will go another week and we’ll give him a few days off after Christmas then.”
And now, for the Christmas Classic, Leinster coming to Thomond Park on the 27th.
How much better will they have to be?
“Infinitely better. I’ll be guessing for the side they pick tomorrow there will be lots of rotation for the week after,” said Costello.
“But to be honest, this was about getting a win up here. And we do have a game-to-game focus. How to use our squad the best we possibly can.
“We have been tested massively with injuries and we had a few more against Castres. But that’s the beauty of having the likes of Gleeson. He was brilliant when he came on tonight after a tough night in Castres. Evan O’Connell who we rested last week has come back in fresh and produced a big performance.
“We are going to need all these boys over the next month. And some of them will get an opportunity in Thomond Park against a very strong Leinster side hopefully in front of a full house.”
In the wake of such a dramatic win, it might have been tempting for most to puff their chests out and reward themselves with some compliments reflected back on oneself.
The bait is offered, but Costello refuses the lure.
“It’s nothing to do with me really. It’s all about the lads and where they are at,” he straight-batted.
“I said this a few times over the last few weeks, the coaching staff have been outstanding in terms of getting on with their jobs. The staff, they were they have pulled together. I am delighted for them as well as the lads.
“Sometimes we say it’s the lads, but the staff in the building have been driving things on in the last six to seven weeks. And the players, I think the last week has hit our confidence a bit.
“Because we had actually been going quite well. We played very well against Stade. The Lions are tough and we played well. We played really well against New Zealand and then we were very poor last weekend.
“I can’t be positive enough about the confidence they showed to score at key times, especially the last one.”
Onwards.
Good to see Munster youth coming to fro, O’Connell, Gleeson, and delighted with the performance of Paddy Patterson great to see him back and the speed he brings to the game. He’ll have to strengthen his efforts on existing kicks but in general he had a very good game for a lad who’s been out awhile and having to fill the gap left by Craig’s injury. Crowley had a hit and miss game but credit to the young man for not shying away and believing in himself that’s the sign of a great player and it’ll stand to him going forward.
@Den: He needs a good run of games, it’s really obvious now how important Caseys defensive kicks are, a week before he was clearing to the halfway line, Paddy wont want to see that rabbit in the headlights moment from the match coverage :) Nice to see the defensive effort, sort the attack now and we might start to look like a team.
@Thesaltyurchin: I think our attack shape looks fluid when we sat art to get a bit of rhythm. The problem seems to be the breakdown, either slow to get there or ineffective in the clear out. In a lot of cases, the carrier doesn’t use his footwork enough to buy time for the support players. You can argue that’s part of the ‘attack’ and I agree but it’s that specific area which is holding us back.
@Michael Corkery: Dunno, they look to have shape, granted Hailey got his pass away but rarely finds green in front of him, Crowley has all but stopped attacking the line, Farrell the only other weapon atm, Nankavil hasn’t been firing and now injured, Daly and Nash look sharp which is only useful if we can get the ball to them with some hope of space. No TB for successful turnovers, he’s the only Munster player that even shades the top 10 in the turnover stats, it’s a desert of nothing after that.
Also the Muster coaching Team who have kept these lads in self belief mode to never say die.. Ian COSTELLO is a wonderful diplomat and comes across really well.., he has that positive vibe about himself and also his manner and his mental approach to the game is obviously rubbing off on the players… well done .
I guess that’s Nankivell gone for at least a month. Hamstring injury always takes a bit of time. It sounds like there’s no ligament damage so that’s good. Basically our remaining fit backs will have to play every game between now and 6nations window.
@Michael Corkery: And poor zac as well after signing 3 year deal these players today get injured a lot too much rugby me thinks
@Shanie: it’s a vicious circle as with the lads out, those remaining probably won’t get any rest which possibly increases their risk of injury further. Both Ulster and Munster are down to playing academy lads in some positions which will benefit long term but getting results in the meantime will be a real challenge.
@Michael Corkery: Big blow, RS is a massive liability now, with no other replacement, SoB still gone, Fitzy in exile, run Crowley there maybe but imagie the lineup next week is Barrett V Scannel? Terrifying
@Michael Corkery: sure that’s grand, they will have February to put the feet up
Has tom ever being capped by ireland pity he had ringrose henshaw aki all world class on the day ahead of him allways liked him
That was a crazy game. I feel Ulster would have won handy with the full compliment. Ulster, I think are getting there and will come good, not sure about Munster.
@James Murphy: munster missing as many great game between 2 irish sides
@James Murphy: Yeah, I think the same. They almost won the game with 14 players. I think the ref needs to have his cards marked. That high foot challenge by Crowley was definitely a penalty and potentially a yellow card. Still like to see a replay of the clash with Kok, which looked dangerous at least, and also potentially a penalty to Ulster.
Great game for Farrell, by far the best player on the pitch. Crowley kicking off but not his game as he influenced the outcome. Good game but dodgy officiating. Same when the guy is TMO.
@James Murphy: that’s also true the other way round. Both teams are injury ravaged so from that point of view, it was an even game.
@Michael Corkery: I think James was referring to the red card and 14 players, not the injuries list.
@John Morris: Oh ya your right
@John Morris: yes, my mistake. Fair point.
@James Murphy: Should have, would have, could have. Just went from 11th to 5th in the table… next week not so sure but for now thats all the ‘coming good’ we need
@John Morris: Not sure about munster got me lol
@Thesaltyurchin: yeah because not other team has played yet this round. It’s mad how blinkered Munster fans are. That was 4/10 performance and 3/10 for Ulster
@adizlack93: 11th to 6th then?… Winning is fundamental in “coming good”… cool story tho
@Thesaltyurchin: you’ve won 5/10 games this year. You wouldn’t know a huge amount about it
Both teams crippled with injuries you can blame S&C to a point but they seem to be very unlucky.
If both teams were at full strength they would challenge any team in the league.