PRO12 LEAGUE: Ospreys 19 Munster 13:DAMIEN VARLEY admits Munster have to improve ahead of their crucial Heineken Cup double-header with the Scarlets, after crashing to a second RaboDirect Pro 12 defeat to the Ospreys.
Munster looked set to complete an Irish hat-trick over Welsh opposition after leading 10-6 at the Liberty Stadium, thanks to a try from Doug Howlett and the boot of Ian Keatley.
But the severely depleted Welsh region, missing 19 players, hit back with quick-fire tries from Richard Fussell and Rhys Webb in a five-minute purple patch to secure a Pro12 double over the reigning champions.
Tony McGahan’s men return to Limerick with a vital bonus-point but had numerous chances to win the game. They turned down several shots at goal as they pushed for a match-winning try and were crucially penalised at the scrum after putting the Ospreys on the ropes.
Varley said: “We’re very disappointed. Our execution wasn’t good enough, we made fatal errors and a lot of decisions went against us, particularly the last scrum.
“It’s tough to understand that call when you’re on top in the scrum as much as we were.
“It’s easy to say we should have gone for goal when we had the chances. But we wanted the result and felt we could get the try – we were on top physically.
“We’re still very much in it and you’re not going to win the league on any given day. But we were coming over here with a view to putting in a performance a week before the Heineken Cup and we’re pretty disappointed with that.
“The Scarlets are a very strong team and always have been. We have two big weeks against them and we will work hard to fix things.”
Munster coach Tony McGahan added: “We play the Scarlets next and they have been in tremendous form recently – their players have contributed to the Welsh success.
“They’re playing with real enthusiasm, they have a cutting edge to their back line and their forward pack has grown each week.
“They’re a formidable outfit and you don’t go to Northampton and get the bonus point without a lot of good attributes. They’re in fine form and it will be a really tough battle.”
The Welsh region opened the scoring in Swansea thanks to the boot of Matthew Morgan, after Keatley was twice off-target.
But the Dublin-born outhalf found his range and levelled the scores before Howlett pounced. Will Chambers’ grubber rebounded off Jonathan Thomas and the former All Black won the race to touch down, with Keatley adding the extras.
Morgan hit back to bring the scores to 10-6 at half-time and the hosts came storming back following the restart, with Fussell and Webb grabbing tries to take a commanding lead.
Ronan O’Gara and Morgan exchanged penalties and Munster dominated the closing stages but were unable to get over the line.
To compound Munster’s woes try-scorer Howlett limped off with just over 10 minutes to go with a suspected Achilles injury, which is likely to result in a sustained period on the sidelines.
McGahan said: “It looks like an Achilles at the moment. We will have to wait and see and get it checked out properly but at this stage he’s a doubt for next week.”
Munster will also be without Peter Stringer for the double-header with the Scarlets, after the veteran scrum-half sealed a three-month loan to injury-hit Saracens.
The reigning Aviva Premiership champions have already lost Neil de Kock and Richard Wigglesworth to long-term injury.
McGahan added: “We have a large squad and we’re trying to manage the whole group. You never know when you have to call them in but we’ve been in a situation this year where we’ve had four fit half-backs.
“It presents Peter with a great opportunity to keep playing at a high level and he was very keen for the move. He’s been a wonderful servant to Munster and if we needed him we could call him back.”
OSPREYS:B Davies (H Dirksen 47); T Bowe; A Bishop, A Beck; R Fussell; M Morgan, R Webb (T Isaacs 66); D Jones, R Hibbard (M Davies 56), A Jarvis (C Griffiths 47), I Gough, J Thomas, T Smith (capt), J King, J Bearman.
MUNSTER:D Hurley; D Howlett (J Murphy 77), W Chambers, D Barnes (R O'Gara 49), S Zebo; I Keatley, T O'Leary (C Murray 60) ; M Horan (W du Preez 49) , D Varley, BJ Botha; D O'Callaghan, D Ryan (P O'Connell 46); D Leamy (J Coughlan 60), N Ronan, P O'Mahony (capt).
Referee:Peter Allan (SRU).
