Tadhg Beirne lamented “the same old story” for Munster after an inaccurate display cost them their European campaign. The Ireland secondrow said his side were guilty of “shooting themselves in the foot” during the 31-21 defeat to Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park that, in all honestly, flattered Munster in terms of the final margin.
In a dire first-half display, the Irish province were actually semi-comfortable defending phase play inside their own 22, but a series of errors when on the ball gifted Exeter transition opportunities. With the likes of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso in their ranks, the hosts were always going to be threatening on the counter.
“It’s probably the same story we’ve been having throughout the year,” acknowledged Beirne. “It’s inaccuracy around some of our set-piece, accuracy out the back with dropped balls.
“In fairness to Exeter they were clinical. Intercept, drop ball, try. Drop ball out wide, try. Defensively, we felt reasonably comfortable out there when they were going through the phases. But in terms of shooting ourselves in the foot, if you watch that first half you’ll see how to do it.”
After winning the toss, Munster chose to play into a strong Sandy Park wind, hoping to have the advantage of the conditions after the break. By the time they had the gale at their backs, they were 31 points down.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso celebrates scoring Exeter Chiefs’ fourth try with team-mates Andrea Zambonin and Stephen Varney. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images
“We just felt like to go into the wind in the first half, you know you’re reasonably fresher. So the plan would be there to keep them to a low score and hopefully if you can go into the second half with it [the wind] up, you’re in a pretty dominant position,” Beirne explained.
“I think if we had to managed that a bit better … we probably overplayed and we didn’t go to some of the things that we could have gone to to tighten it up, in terms of the forwards and stuff like that, just to make it more difficult for them to get the ball back.
“We just coughed up the ball to them and they were clinical in fairness to them.
“And then second half, we talked about the first five minutes. I thought we were very good in the first five minutes, but then it was the same story, wasn’t it? We’d ample opportunities inside their 22, but dropped balls, just the same kind of mistakes that we’ve probably been coughing up throughout the season.
“So that’s probably the frustrating part because we still put ourselves in a position to claw back at the score at the scoreboard, but it was a big mountain to climb. Had it been a bit less on the scoreboard, it could have been a different conversation today.”