Efficiency pleases McGahan

MUSGRAVE PARK QUOTES: THE RAIN may have relented come kick-off, and it may have been technically an 8,000 sell-out thanks to season-ticket sales, but the combination of a Sunday evening kick-off and a foul day combined to ensure the ground was far from full.

But those who braved the conditions were amply rewarded by a clinical performance, illuminated by seven tries of real quality, after which management and players could scarcely conceal their contentment with their start to the season.

As with Leinster on Friday, a seven-try haul to none demonstrated Munster's strength in depth, especially with their attacking resources. All the tries were scored by their backs, and this despite the absence of Ronan O'Gara, Rua Tipoki and Denis Hurley.

Helped by the availability of their internationals from the start, the running lines, the support play, the eagerness to exploit space and look to offload the ball and the work-rate, especially off the ball, reflected an additional spring in Munster's step.

Captain for the night Mick O'Driscoll clearly revelled in the responsibility and the approach.

"We started pre-season eight weeks ago and the ball was basically in from day one. It's the first time in 11 years for me as a professional that that has ever happened and it's coming through now a small bit.

"We're playing a lot more expansive rugby and the forwards are getting their hands on the ball a lot more and releasing it to the backs.

"I think it just shows what our backs are capable of if we get them some good clean ball. They're beginning to outshine us quite a bit and it's good to see. If they can continue doing that we'll be very happy."

What pleased head coach Tony McGahan the most was "our ability to continue to score points".

"It's something that we've spoken about, in being a lot more efficient in what we do and putting away sides when we have them under the sword".

"We've put a lot of hard work into the shape of our attack in the pre-season," he added, "and with conditions not too bad we're able to take advantage of that at the moment."

Much of the talk, inevitably, centred on the rapidly emerging Keith Earls after his trio of tries brought his tally to seven in four outings.

Earls is a centre by inclination who has also played on the wing, and accommodating his dynamic ball-carrying from fullback has looked like an inspired call.

"He's certainly putting himself forward in every game and he's ticking a lot of boxes," admitted the Munster coach. "He's making it a difficult proposition not to put him in. He's going along nicely."

As Anthony Foley underlined, even with talents as exceptional as Earls the virtues of patience are a necessity in the Munster scheme of things.

"He's a young lad who's waited a while to get his run in the team, and he's got his chance and he's taken it. We hope he stays injury-free, and that he can kick on from this and go on to greater things. Hopefully this is just the start of the Keith Earls story."

And McGahan, as the team's defence-coach-turned-head-coach, took pride in Munster keeping their line intact for the second game running. "They had a lot of ball at different periods in the game. Sometimes you can get carried away with the scoreline and the attack, but we have very high standards in our defence and it was pleasing to see that continue through sustained periods."