Newport 31 Munster 22:RONAN O'GARA may have found support from his team-mates but it remains to be seen whether this defeat may cost him his place for Ireland next Saturday.
Munster matched Newport Gwent Dragons for tries but O’Gara was erratic in front of goal, kicking just two from five attempts, came close to conceding a try after being charged down and was easily over-shadowed by his younger opposite number at Rodney Parade on Saturday evening.
Twenty-year-old Jason Tovey pulled the strings as the young Dragons somehow overcame a staggering disadvantage in the scrums and a wealth of know-how against their vastly more experienced opponents.
It is always the “Munster way”’ to extol the virtues of the team rather than highlight the marvels or failings of the individual, but such an untimely loss of form will have done little to help O’Gara’s claim for the number 10 jersey against Wales.
Quinlan said: “There is always pressure on the kicker but we didn’t lose the game because of that. No one is blaming Ronan, as a team we made far too many mistakes. It’s not about individuals, the whole team played badly and made mistakes.
“We’re very disappointed, especially with the second-half performance.
“We didn’t create enough chances, we made far too many mistakes and they capitalised on them. We played around with the ball too much in the second half. When you’re away from home, you need to play territory and we didn’t do that.”
If O’Gara was unusually unconvincing with the boot, Munster admitted they were gave an “uncharacteristic” display in Newport.
This was a fixture they won last season on their way to the Magners League title but defeat on Saturday night not only denied them the chance to go top, albeit for 24 hours, but was their sixth loss in seven games on the road this campaign.
Coach Tony McGahan afterwards said: “We won here last year and these are the games you need to win away from home if you’re going to win the title. We can’t just rely on our home matches. But the new format of the competition gives an extra edge to the mid-table teams.”
It looked set to be a different story when Doug Howlett appeared to have scored after 10 minutes only for the video official to rule out the score, to Munster’s ire.
Despite conceding a try to Aled Brew against the run of play, their response was swift and emphatic when they were awarded a penalty try as the Dragons forwards caved in under pressure from Munster’s scrum, to level the scores 7-7.
However Lifeimi Mafi’s yellow card opened the door for 13 points from the Dragons either side of half-time.
Tim O’Donnell struck back for Munster from Paul Warwick’s pass but when the Dragons lost scrumhalf Wayne Smith to a yellow card, Munster were out-scored by Martyn Thomas’ try.
Quinlan said: “It was one of those frustrating nights and an uncharacteristic Munster performance.
“We didn’t capitalise when they were down to 14 men, which is something we must look at.
“We had a good start, the set-piece went well. We were disappointed not to be awarded the try. From where we were it looked a perfectly good try but perhaps the cameras didn’t show that.
“We started positively and that would have given us a lot of confidence but to come away with nothing was disappointing.
“The penalty try gave us a boost and we wanted to kick on from that but we conceded two penalties just before half-time and that gave the Dragons a big lift. They got a try early in the second half and after that we were playing catch-up.
“We started to panic when we were behind.”
Buckley’s late try offered little more than respectability on the scoreboard with even a losing bonus point beyond their reach, leaving them in a scrap for every point in what is becoming an increasingly tight race for a top-four finish.
Quinlan said: “We’re still up there with a chance of making the play-offs but we will have to take a good look at the tapes and make sure we bounce back.”
NEWPORT-GWENT D’GONS: M Thomas, Harries, Watkins, Smith, Brew, Tovey, W Evans, Gustafson, Willis, Castle, A. Jones, Charteris, Lydiate, G. Thomas, L Evans. Replacements: Arlidge for Tovey (77 mins). Not Used: S Jones, Palmer, Sidoli, MacDonald, Riley, Leadbeater.
MUNSTER: Warwick, Howlett, Mafi, de Villiers, D. Hurley, O’Gara, Stringer, Horan, Fogarty, Buckley, O’Driscoll, Holland, Quinlan, O’Donnell, Coughlan. Replacements: Deasy for de Villiers (76 mins), D Williams for Stringer (68 mins), Brugnaut for Horan (67 mins), Varley for Fogarty (62 mins), Nagle for Quinlan (70 mins), N. Williams for O’Donnell (50 mins). Not Used: O’Boyle, Archer.
Referee: Dudley Phillips (RFU).
