Cotter defends decision to make sweeping changes

Vern Cotter knew the question would eventually be posed and when it came he paused for a moment before offering a logical defence that won't appeal to or convince many outside of the ASM Clermont Auvergne club.

The New Zealand-born coach to the beaten finalists in last season's French Championship elected to make 14 changes from the team that thrashed Llanelli at Stade Marcel Michelin last weekend and in doing so knew the consequences of losing heavily at Thomond Park yesterday.

The scoreline wasn't representative of the opening 40 minutes but in the end probably accurately reflected Munster's dominance. So did he feel he demeaned the Heineken European Cup by electing to make wholesale changes to a winning team? Cotter explained: "No, I don't think we did. We have a group of 35 professional players and by no means did they demean the jersey. The game fell at the time when we needed to give some players access to rugby . . . They gave it a crack and defended well (in the first half). The try that took it out to 17-6 made a difference. None of them in there (the dressingroom) feel they have been spoilt and given a false opportunity. They came up against good opposition. (I have) no regrets at all."

He rejected assertions Clermont had more serious ambitions in terms of the French Championship and were unwilling to be distracted by European fare. "Yes we are taking it (the European Cup) seriously. We gambled on a team with fresh legs and enthusiasm and it showed. The negative was we probably didn't have as much game time together. We are going to need them with 32 games to come (this season). We have rules and regulations in the French Championship that clubs cannot play players more than eight games consecutively or 10 games if they're under 22 (years of age).

"We have to be careful about how we regenerate our team and keep them going at the same time. Our objective is to keep that team growing at the same time. I was quite pleased with the character shown out there against a pretty good team.

"If we had managed to score then (in the first half) when we were five metres from their line or in the second half when we might have got it back to 24-20, then the game might have been interesting from that point. Against an opposition such as Munster we needed to score and we didn't.

"It's only the fourth game of our season so I'm taking positives from the performance and I'm really happy with the way that some of our players threw their bodies around.

"We're disappointed the scoreline became as heavy as it did. We should have been a little bit more competitive than that. We'll work on concentration and getting things together for 80 minutes. I have got players who have been training for nine weeks and need access to rugby. We need to see how we are going to plan for the future. Some of them are young players and they need time in the saddle or else they are not going to progress. What better team to measure yourself against than Munster? We need to know how players are mentally, physically and where the group are and it (this match) was very important in that respect."

Cotter praised the atmosphere at a ground in the throes of being rebuilt. "I have never experienced anything like that, it was tremendous. It was cold but the atmosphere was pretty hot. We had heard about it, been told and were forewarned. It was great to go to a place like that and feel intensity like that. I think (my) players will benefit from this experience."