Gerry Thornley: Munster need to circle the wagons as Ulster game looms large

Graham Rowntree maintained he could be proud of his depleted team’s performance against Leinster and that it was proof that they were on the right track. All in all, it was hard to quibble with this view.

The most significant improvement on the error-strewn opening four performances was the improved accuracy in handling as well as depth and shape in attack. The well-worked try with 14 men, finished by Gavin Coombes’ taking Conor Murray’s skip pass and availing of good decoy runs to put his cousin Liam over in the 46th minute, was the most obvious manifestation of this.

It’s understandable that Munster may have taken a step or two backwards to evolve into something different, and in further evidence of Mike Prendergast’s attacking plan coming together, there was also Kenyan Knox’s break from Joey Carbery’s flat pass and Diarmuid Barron’s break off a lovely transfer by Jeremy Loughman. They largely eschewed the box kicking and the slow-tempo game which frustrated their supporters last season. They kept trying to play.

There was an argument for taking three points rather than twice kicking to the corner heading towards the last ten minutes at 22-13 down, especially with a depowered pack, so as to make it a one-score game and move into bonus point territory.

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But that’s easy to say with hindsight, and if they had opted to make it 22-16 and Leinster still went downfield to score their fourth try, many would have been saying they should have gone to the corner. Rowntree said he wants his players to go after teams, and in this they were true to that principle.

The front-row trio showed up well in open play, and Loughman performed creditably as an emergency tight-head but after Andrew Porter came on their scrum became a costly Achilles heel and highlighted the lack of bulk in their pack. Their makeshift back three were also vulnerable under the high ball.

Although they only lost the penalty count 11-10 (and Andrew Brace and his team oversaw the game sharply and accurately) discipline was again an issue, not least in two avoidable yellow cards.

Leinster’s opening try followed Knox’s sinbinning. Granted the only other score in that ten-minute period was a Joey Carbery penalty and they actually outscored Leinster 7-0 while Jean Kleyn was sinbinned.

However, along with their breakdown issues which contributed to them having to make over 100 tackles in the first half, all this took its toll. Ultimately, Munster were outscored by 20-0 after Coombes’ try.

There’s also the nagging suspicion that but for Leinster’s unusual inaccuracies with seven of their eight entries into Munster’s 22, and admittedly Munster’s scramble and try-line defence, on another day the home side might have had another one or two seven-pointers by half-time.

Furthermore, this being a results-driven industry, last Saturday was still Munster’s fourth defeat in their first six matches. They sit 11th in the table, a whopping 17 points adrift of Leinster and ten points behind Ulster in second place.

Rowntree maintained that every game is a big game, and again he has a point, but Ulster’s visit to Thomond Park next Saturday (kick-off 5.15pm) is as much of a must-win match as the Bulls game. Munster also look as if they’ll be heavily depleted again.

For starters, they will be without the eight players who were named in the Irish squad. The additional six players named for the Ireland ‘A’ fixture against an All Blacks XV will be made available this week, but Tom Ahern was one of those who sustained an injury in last Saturday’s bruising game in addition to Carbery, Kleyn and Jack O’Sullivan.

Stephen Archer, Roman Salanoa, Edwin Edogbo, Malakai Fekitoa, Antoine Frisch, Chris Farrell, RG Snyman, Jack Daly, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Kelly, Fineen Wycherley, Keith Earls, Andrew Conway and Simon Zebo were all ruled out of the Leinster match, and it remains to be seen how, or if, any will recover this week.

For all the calls to just throw all the young talent in at the deep end, ideally young players should be managed carefully and preferably with seasoned pros, rather than all of them being chucked in together.

Fourth choice tight-head James French remained on the bench last Saturday and it is likely that former tight-head John Ryan will be signed on a short-term deal after his release by Wasps.

Ulster are arguably the most difficult and dangerous opponents Munster could have faced at this juncture in their season. They are averaging 38 points and five tries per game to date.

While they, too, will be missing eight players in the Irish squad, presuming they recover from the illness which swept through their squad and forced the postponement of their game against the Sharks in South Africa, Ulster will arrive in Limerick in relatively rude health.

That postponement was a blow too, as they had the benefit of keeping all their Emerging Ireland players in South Africa and having beaten the Lions in the altitude of Pretoria, Ulster had targeted becoming the first team to complete a double. Having to rearrange an additional trip to South Africa is an unwanted logistical headache, as Munster know from last season, and they will not be as well primed again.

While Munster did the double over Ulster last season, Ulster will hardly ever again play as conservatively as they did when failing to maximise Zebo’s 15th minute red card at Thomond Park in January.

What’s more, the most significant clash between these two provinces was in the quarter-final last June, when Ulster’s emphatic 36-17 win brought the curtain down on both Munster’s season and the Johann van Graan tenure.

Lose next Saturday and not only will Ulster have joined Leinster in vanishing over the horizon, even finishing in the top eight and qualifying for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup will be a tall ask given their remaining fixture list.

There’s a school of thought that Munster might be better served by a campaign in a more winnable Challenge Cup. But failing to qualify for the Champions Cup for the first time ever would be a huge psychological blow for the organisation, besides which European attendances at Thomond Park would probably be halved.

Rowntree is right. Every game is a big game. But next Saturday certainly seems a little bigger than most.

gerry.thornley@irishtimes.com