Munster’s review after their 40-14 defeat on Saturday night will concentrate on an internal stocktake of mishaps, from the inadvertent to the controllable. The latter included lineout woes, a scrum issue here and there, losing the aerial contest and some game-play decisions in the Bath 22 that won’t stand up well to scrutiny.
The scoreboard casts a harsh light on Munster’s endeavours but doesn’t tell the full story. Munster lost Jean Kleyn (personal reasons) and Michael Milne (injured in the warm-up), brought Jeremy Loughman and Edwin Edogbo into the team and the Wycherley brothers, Josh and Fineen, on to the bench.
What they needed in the circumstances was a hardnosed, focused and accurate opening to a Champions Cup match that started in torrential rain. What they got was a lineout that dissolved under pressure, coughing up five of the first six throws, and even when securing possession, it was largely a madcap scramble, going backwards to dive on the loose ball.
Munster captain Tadhg Beirne shouldered the responsibility. “I should have [gone] away from the seven-man [formation] earlier. We lost two in a row and then I went back to it again. In hindsight, obviously that was just a silly error on my part going through it again.
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“It would have been the smart decision to get away from it and obviously [we] lost it again, lost another one and then compounded that with a penalty down into the corner and then my yellow card was punished pretty severely when I was off the field.”
Quite apart from the travails on throw, Munster lost Beirne to the sin bin on five minutes, penalised for “swimming” up the side of a maul and illegally stifling Bath’s progress towards the line. In his absence the English champions, prompted by their outstanding scrumhalf and captain Ben Spencer, scored three tries and 21 points.
Beirne returned to the pitch in time to witness Bath’s fourth and bonus-point try; the home side’s maul took the shortest route between lineout and try line. Hooker Tom Dunn flopped over the line, as he joined number eight Miles Reid and wing Henry Arundel as try scorers. The first was a penalty try. Finn Russell converted all four, to give them a 28-0 lead with just 18 minutes on the match clock.
It was ugly for the visitors but, to their credit, Munster dug deep and, on the back of inspiration provided by Gavin Coombes and Edogbo, started to win a few collisions.
In doing so they forced Bath to concede a raft of penalties. Edogbo and Craig Casey scored tries – Beno Obano grabbed a fifth for Bath in between – and both were converted by JJ Hanrahan, making the interval scoreline appear a tiny bit more palatable at 35-14.
Bath coach Johann van Graan said later that he instructed the team to play a low-risk brand of rugby in the second half and contain and corral the visitors rather than chasing further plunder. Munster dominated territory and possession and had frequent access to the Bath 22 and occasionally got to within touching distance of the home side’s line, but to no avail.
Hanrahan kicked beautifully, Dan Kelly was a creative spark but ultimately Munster’s errant decision-making and penchant for forcing passes, losing support and lacking patience, undermined a trojan work-rate.
The only score in the second half, with Spencer again the facilitator-in-chief, was a try for Bath replacement Ted Hill, a cosmetic addition. The home side were worthy winners, quite simply because they took the chances that came their way and rode out the rough patches after the interval with a couple of turnovers close to their line.
Munster head coach Clayton McMillan was understandably disappointed. He elaborated: “I think it was just our execution. And we probably created a little bit of early territory pressure but weren’t able to leverage off that. We lost a few lineouts and that sort of let the pressure off and they were good enough to capitalise.”
There is no time to dwell on the frustration. The Irish province hosts Gloucester in Páirc Uí Chaoimh next Saturday. McMillan said: “There were positives. That’s Bath, one of the top teams in Europe. We keep the scoreboard pretty even there for 60-odd minutes.
“We don’t want to pat ourselves on the back for that because it’s an 80-minute game, but there are some positives and we’ll need to find some gains pretty quickly at home.”
Scoring sequence
5 mins: Penalty try, 7-0; 9: Reid try, Russell conversion, 14-0; 11: Arundel try, Russell conversion, 21-0; 18: Dunn try, Russell conversion, 28-0; 22: Edogbo try, Hanrahan conversion, 28-7; 37: Obano try, Russell conversion, 35-7; 40 (+1): Casey try, Hanrahan conversion, 35-14. Half-time: 35-14. 78: Hill try, 40-14.
Bath: Tom de Glanville; Joe Cokanasiga, Max Ojomoh, Cameron Redpath, Henry Arundell; Finn Russell, Ben Spencer (capt); Beno Obano, Tom Dunn, Will Stuart, Quinn Roux, Charlie Ewels, Josh Bayliss, Guy Pepper, Miles Reid.
Replacements: Sam Underhill for Pepper half-time; Thomas du Toit for Reid 33 mins and Stuart 49 mins; Kepu Tuipulotu for Dunn 62 mins; Ross Molony for Roux 62 mins; Santi Carreras for de Glanville 62 mins; Francois van Wyk for Obano 62 mins; Ted Hill for Bayliss 62 mins, Tom Carr-Smith for Spencer 79 mins.
Yellow card: W Stuart 28 mins.
Munster: Shane Daly; Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tom Farrell, Dan Kelly, Thaakir Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern; Tadhg Beirne (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Michael Ala’alatoa for Ryan half-time; Lee Barron for D Baron half-time; Alex Nankivell for Kilgallen half-time; Alex Kendellen for Hodnett 49 mins; Ruadhán Quinn for Edogbo 53 mins; Josh Wycherley for Loughman 59 mins; Fineen Wycherley for Coombes 65 mins; Edogbo for F Wycherley 67 mins; Ethan Coughlan for Casey 72 mins.
Yellow card: T Beirne 5 mins.
Referee: J Rozier (France)
