Champions Cup: Munster 31 Gloucester 3
Munster’s brave new venture in the Champions Cup to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh cannot be described as a rip-roaring success, nor was it anything like a failure either. The bottom line is that Munster eventually found some kind of intensity and attacking rhythm to appease a slightly restless and somewhat subdued 36,208 crowd and recorded a badly needed bonus point.
Ultimately, the move was vindicated by the numbers, for the attendance was some 10,000 more than previous Thomond Park capacities. Whether they’d be inclined to return is a moot point. But for the move to the shiny and comfortable Páirc Uí Chaoimh this 10th meeting between Munster and Gloucester would probably be regarded as the least memorable.
Munster lacked confidence and responded by trying too hard. As Clayton McMillan succinctly put it: “I think my overriding sense would be that sometimes your will to do something so well becomes the reason it doesn’t.
“There’s a lot of care in the team and there’s a lot of willingness to want to step up and do something well for the team, but I just feel like we forced a lot today instead of just letting the game come to us.
“We just need to be more clinical,” he added, “a little bit more patient, and serve each other to get one person across the line. We’re just trying to get there a little bit too cheaply, and no one’s going to give up cheap tries, so we’ve just got to be prepared to earn them.”
Thankfully, the worst of the stormy rain didn’t materialise in such an exposed stadium, but Munster played into the wind from the city end in the first half and the blustery conditions were definitely worse than they looked from the comfort of the stands, never mind a couch or bar stool.
So, for all their attacking intent, as the ball kept hitting the pristine, tightly cropped pitch, the frustration among home team and crowd alike was palpable. Gloucester brought little to the party, save for an entirely changed XV and plenty of kicking, while taking an age over lineouts and scrums.
Munster’s Alex Nankivell makes a tackle at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
“It was actually my first game playing here,” said captain Tadhg Beirne, who shared the frustration of his coach and the crowd, but still enjoyed the adventure. “It’s a very cool stadium. The pitch as well, in terms of the grass and everything, it’s as good as you’ll play on. It was a very cool experience and hopefully we’ll have a few more games in the future here as well. I really enjoyed it.
Yet he shared the frustration of his coach and the crowd.
“Obviously there was maybe a knock-on or a poor pass at times, that’s just a skill error and that just happens. I think the frustration is when we said we were going to stick to a plan and then individuals probably didn’t and I think that’s the stuff that we’ll look back and make sure that we continue to work on that stuff so it doesn’t happen in the future.”
McMillan made nine changes in personnel and his selection vindicated. Among the five Cork players in the starting XV, and seven in the 23, was winger Ben O’Connor, a former Cork underage hurler. McMillan included him in a newly configured back three, alongside Shane Daly and Mike Haley, who also kept picking good lines and like Alex Nankivell, had a big hand in two tries.
Recalling Munster’s preseason friendly against Gloucester, McMillan admitted: “I remember thinking in the first 30 minutes, where there had been about 35 box kicks, ‘what the hell have I got myself in for?’. It was the first game I was involved in.
“They’re an ambitious team, they want to throw the ball around but they’re actually pretty good at the contestable kicking game. Perhaps off the back of last week, the combination of the conditions and the wind and the way that they play, we knew that there would be a bit of aerial bombardment and so, we just made a tactical decision to go with the guys that got selected and I think they all did a sterling job.”
Another feature of McMillan’s selection was the real impact of their bench, and notably a couple of big scrums after the introduction of 30-year-old Young Munster prop Conor Bartley in just his second Munster appearance and opposing 27-year-old prop Ciaran Knight, who has a century of caps for Gloucester.
Munster’s Ruadhán Quinn scores a try against Gloucester. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho
“They all had their moments, but I was particularly happy for Conor Bartley,” added McMillan. “He’s pretty unheralded. He’s a guy who has been away for 30-odd years of club rugby. Never thought he’d put on a Munster jersey until he did in round one, got injured. He’s been sitting out for the last seven/eight weeks and then went out and had a couple of really big impacts at scrum time. Super proud of him and he’s going to get more opportunities.”
Munster have been the most proactive province in releasing their players to the AIL and McMillan reasoned: “I just think that the only way you get better is by being out in the middle, and we only get to select 23, so I don’t see the logic really, unless you’re sort of deep in the competition and finals, you maybe get a little bit precious around who you release to club rugby.
“But I would rather see them out there playing, getting minutes under their belt, contributing to their clubs and being more battle-hardened and ready to take the opportunity when they get it.”
SCORING SEQUENCE – 3 mins: Barton pen, 0-3; 21: Kelly try, Crowley con, 7-3; (half-time 7-3); 50: Haley try, 12-3; 68: Quinn try, Crowley con, 19-3; 73: Farrell try, Crowley con 26-3; 76: Beirne try, 31-3.
MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell, Ben O’Connor; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Michael Milne, Niall Scannell, Michael Ala’alatoa; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Tom Ahern, Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Tom Farrell for Kelly (54 mins); Diarmuid Barron for Scannell, Josh Wycherley for Milne, Edwin Edogbo for Kleyn, RuadhÁn Quinn for O’Donoghue (all 61); Conor Bartley for Ala’alatoa (70); Paddy Patterson for Casey, JJ Hanrahan for Haley (both 71).
GLOUCESTER: George Barton; Josh Hathaway, Will Knight, Max Knight, Rob Russell; Charlie Atkinson, Mike Austin; Dian Bleuler, Jack Innard, Jamal Ford-Robinson; Cam Jordan, Arthur Clark (capt); Josh Basham, Harry Taylor, Jack Clement.
Replacements: Afolabi Fasogbon for Basham (40-42 mins) and for Ford-Robinson (50); Ciarán Knight for Bleuler (50); Danny Eite for Clark, Caio James for Clement, Rhys Price for Austin (all 64); Kealan Freeman Price for Innard, Hugh Bokenham for Jordan, Rhys Price for Austin (all 69).
Sinbinned: Ford-Robinson (32 mins), James (68).
Referee: Ben Breakspeare (Wales).