Munster 19 Gloucester 28
Munster kick-started the Graham Rowntree era with a nine-point defeat at the hands of Gloucester in a preseason encounter at Musgrave Park on Friday night.
Shorn of his international contingent, new head coach Rowntree used a mixture of youth and experience against the English Premiership outfit. Calvin Nash, Alex Kendellen and Ruadhan Quinn crossed the whitewash in the second half, but the hosts ultimately couldn’t overturn a 21-0 interval deficit.
Munster had endured the worst possible start in the Cork venue with Gloucester winger Ollie Thorley grounding in routine fashion with just 90 seconds gone on the clock.
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The Reds initially held firm following this deadlock-breaker, only to fall further behind on the first-quarter mark. Just when Munster were beginning to settle into the game, Gloucester centre Chris Harris intercepted a loose Ben Healy pass and ran the length of the field for a simple finish under the posts.
It was perfectly understandable that Munster were somewhat rusty with their United Rugby Championship opener against Cardiff still three weeks away, but Rowntreee would have been disappointed nonetheless to see Harris getting through for his second try on 33 minutes.
Although Tom Seabrook spurned an excellent chance to touchdown moments before that, Gloucester brought a commanding lead into the break. It was two very different teams that took to the Musgrave pitch for the second period with Gloucester announcing before kick-off that lock Arthur Clark was to be the only player to start both halves.
New signing Malakai Fekitoa was introduced as part of a handful of Munster changes on the restart — fellow summer recruit Chris Moore joined him later on — but the southern province were still finding scoring opportunities hard to come by.
That was until the home team finally established a foothold in the Gloucester 22 and Shane Daly released Nash for a try in the right-corner on 54 minutes. This ignited a spark in Munster and Kendellen also dotted down approaching the hour to bring Munster well into contention.
The visitors (for whom Cork native Bryan O’Connor appeared off the bench) continued to possess an attacking threat and moved 16 points clear after a Jack Reeves finish was followed by a superb Lloyd Evans bonus strike.
While this effectively placed the outcome beyond doubt, 18-year-old Munster backrow Quinn did cap a fine debut senior outing with an impressive try six minutes from the end.
Scorers — Munster: C Nash, A Kendellen, R Quinn try each, J Crowley 2 cons. Gloucester: C Harris 2 tries, O Thorley, J Reeves try each, A Hastings 3 cons, L Evans con.
MUNSTER: S Zebo; C Nash, C Farrell, R Scannell, S Daly; B Healy, N Cronin; J Wycherley, D Barron, K Knox; C Hurley, E O’Connor; J O’Donoghue, A Kendellen, J O’Sullivan.
Replacements: S Buckley, C Moore, R Salanoa, J French, L O’Connor, E Edogbo, P Kelly, R Quinn, D Okeke, P Patterson, J Crowley, T Butler, M Fekitoa, D Goggin, L Coombes, C Phillips.
GLOUCESTER: K Moyle; T Seabrook, C Harris, M Atkinson, O Thorley; A Hastings, C Chapman; H Erlington, J Singleton, F Balmain; F Clarke, A Clark; R Ackermann, H Taylor, B Morgan.
Replacements: R Nixon, E Hunt, B O’Connor, R Dunn, J Reeves, B Twelvetrees, G Kveseladze, J Morris, L Evans, S Varney, C Knight, H Walker, J Ford-Robinson, A Davidson, C Jordan, F Thomas, J Clement.
Referee: P Martin (IRFU).
