Graham Rowntree pleased but seeks improvement ahead of Leinster clash

Munster 31 Bulls 17

Graham Rowntree is settling into his new role in charge of Munster but he has come to dread the Monday morning meeting the medics because he can usually tell by the look on their faces before they open their files or mouths whether it’s going to be a good week or not.

At least the mood music will be a little lighter at their base in Limerick this morning when they gather to prepare for their trip to the Aviva Stadium next Saturday for a showdown with Leinster, buoyed by a deserved bonus-point win in their first game at Thomond Park since April.

The first task for Rowntree and his management will be to roster who is available. He’s got his Emerging Ireland players back and they looked good on Saturday evening. Calvin Nash picked up an injury in the win, while it remains to be seen if seasoned internationals such as Simon Zebo, Andrew Conway and Keith Earls will be available after injury.

The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times

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“There’s a lot going on,” said Rowntree after Saturday night’s win. “I have a sit down with the medics at 10.30 every Monday morning which I’m always anxious about because I know how good the week is going to be by their faces walking into the office. We’ll see. There’s a lot of things in the mix. They’re not ruled out by any means,” he said about the Irish trio.

There was much to admire about Munster’s display in front of 12,218 at Thomond Park on Saturday, not least their willingness to go wide, the superb display of Joey Carbery at outhalf and Jack Crowley when he came on at fullback, while up front where Tadhg Beirne and Peter O’Mahony provided the leadership, 19-year old academy lock Edwin Edogdo from Cobh marked his first start after three appearances off the bench with another impressive display.

Regardless of what position Rowntree holds in a club, he will be first and foremost a forwards’ coach, so for the pack to deliver all four tries was pleasing, but he found the best part of the night was when they held the Bulls scoreless when Jake White’s side camped inside their 22 for the closing eleven minutes. They went through five segments of attack — 11 phases followed by 19, then nine, then five, and another nine bursts — before Munster turned over the ball and cleared their line.

“There’s elements of our attack coming through, what Mike [Prendergast] has been doing. He’s been doing some fantastic work, but more importantly I enjoyed our goal line defence at the end. Being a forwards’ coach, I thought the way we kept them out was admirable.

“The Bulls are very good, they have a meticulous amount of tap-penalties, little clever tap-penalty moves near to the opposition goal line, and we stopped them. That element pleased me.”

Gavin Coombes brought his Munster tally to 23 in 53 appearances when he twice drove over in the opening half to lead 17-3 at the break. Edogdo and Jean Kleyn gave him a helping hand for the first try after 29 minutes, while O’Mahony and Stephen Archer provided the muscle seven minutes later.

There was no way back for last year’s runners-up when loosehead prop Jeremy Loughman chased a hopeless situation three minutes after the restart but he was rewarded for his perseverance when interval replacement Chris Smith made a mess of trying to collect a grubber from the left by Carbery.

“Ridiculous,” was how Rowntree, himself a former 54-cap England loosehead, described the score which put them 24-3 in front. “He took it well. I said to him: ‘you’ll never score a try like that again’. Maybe, maybe but he was just good. He followed up. That was his decision — to follow up, and he got his toe on the ball. It was a pretty decisive score at that point to be fair. I thought he played well.”

Beirne secured the bonus point 18 minutes from time after another series of short drives, but Bulls, who had earlier crossed for a try in the right corner from flanker WJ Steenkamp, got a sniff of a bonus point when David Kriel got over after a break from deep.

But the Munster defence held firm to the end and while Rowntree was chuffed with that, he acknowledged a lot of improvement would be required to topple Leinster next week. The Monday review will show four promising attacks in the opening quarter were butchered by either poor set-piece or ball-carriers taking the wrong option.

“We weren’t perfect, so there is improvement required,” said Rowntree. “We will have to be even more clinical around some of our lineout possession. I’m confident we can put pressure on any team if we can keep the ball when we are in their 22. Factually, we are very good with limited minutes, we can score tries. That has been a big focus. But we have to be better, we know that.”

Carbery, having been tried at fullback against Connacht, looks set for a sustained run at outhalf if Munster are to build momentum but, probably for the first time since he took charge, he has serious selection dilemmas to deal with. Carbery wasn’t the only one he was impressed with.

“Crowley, off the bench, as well was very good. Thomas Ahern, rampaging in the wide channels; Diarmuid Barron, carrying well close to the ruck. There’s some big headaches and those guys have been good coming in. They only trained from Thursday onwards, the Emerging Ireland guys and they loved that tour and they came in energised and they brought a different energy to the group. So, selection is going to be hard but that’s how we want it.”

Scorers — Munster: Tries: G Coombes (2), J Loughman, T Beirne. Cons: J Carbery (4). Pen: Carbery.

Bulls: Tries: WJ Steenkamp, D Kriel. Cons: C Smith (2). Pen: J Goosen.

Munster: S Daly; C Nash (J Crowley half-time), M Fekitoa, D Goggin, L Coombes; J Carbery, C Casey (C Murray 57mins); J Loughman (D Kilcoyne 53mins), N Scannell (D Barron 53mins), S Archer (R Salanoa 53mins); J Kleyn, E Edogbo (T Ahern 53mins); T Beirne (J O’Donoghue 70mins), P O’Mahony (c) (J Hodnett 64mins), G Coombes.

Bulls: K-L Arendse; C Hendricks (D Kriel half-time), L Mapoe, H Vorster, W Simelane; J Goosen (C Smith half-time), E Papier (Z Burger 67mins); S Matanzima (D Smith 57mins), J-H Wessels (B du Plessis 57mins), M Smith (J van Rooyen 57mins); W Steenkamp (R Vermaak 66, 6), R Nortje; M Coetzee (c) (M van Staden 59mins), WJ Steenkamp, E Louw.

Referee: M Adamson (Scotland).