“Hysteria” was the word used by Peter O’Mahony to describe the general reaction to Munster’s sluggish start to the season, so by the same token then no one should be swinging from the chandeliers in response to the recent upturn in fortunes.
The Munster captain’s description was in light of Munster losing three of their opening four games against Cardiff, the Dragons and Connacht, with the sole win having been a somewhat desultory 21-5 victory at home to Zebre which failed to yield a bonus point in a scoreless second-half.
O’Mahony gave his tuppence worth in light of the 31-17 bonus point win over the Bulls, since when Munster have been conspicuously more consistent, despite defeats away to Leinster and at home to Ulster.
The introduction of a new coaching ticket had been compounded by the absence of nine players on the Emerging Ireland tour in those opening three rounds and come the URC round nine game away to Edinburgh they had already used 55 players.
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It was always going to take time. The players have had to adapt to shorter but more intense training sessions, while translating this into the quicker tempo brand of rugby Mike Prendergast is looking for in tandem with Graham Rowntree.
But having lost five of their first seven games of the season, Munster have since won five of their last seven, and what’s more, the two defeats were by Toulouse and Leinster.
It has helped that they hit upon a settled side for the crucial wins over Connacht and Edinburgh, and then the Heineken Champions Cup jousts with Toulouse and Northampton which led into the bumper festive derby at home to Leinster.
Equally encouraging though has been the way Munster were able to make half a dozen changes for the gritty win away to Ulster and another six for the bonus point win over the Lions last week in atrocious conditions, which was in marked contrast to the Zebre game.
The manner Liam Coombes, Malakai Fekitoa, Rory Scannell, Paddy Patterson, John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen and others have slotted seamlessly into their defensive shape and attacking patterns is further indication that the squad is now more attuned to the new methods.
The marked improvement in results has coincided with a marked upturn in performances, and by almost every metric Munster are making progress.
Set-piece
Munster actually played well in their 15-14 defeat at home by Ulster, despite missing 33 players, but in three entries inside the Munster 22 Ulster came away with three tries off their renowned lineout maul. In the return fixture a fortnight ago, not the least significant aspect of Munster’s win was stealing three attacking Ulster throws inside.
When O’Mahony is there, and he has started nine of their 14 games, their lineout generally and catch-and-drive is invariably sharp, and his eight steals are the highest in the URC this season.
This virtue has been handed down from Paul O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, Donnacha Ryan et al via Jerry Holland to the current generation, and so it remains.
Alas though, there is the scrum. When the fit-again David Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell and John Ryan are in harness, and with Jean Kleyn packing down in behind, Munster’s scrum is usually rock solid.
Jeremy Loughman has made strides, and Scannell is having a fine season, but although the injury-prone Roman Salanoa is an athletic and powerful carrier, he and Kenyan Knox remain light on mileage.
Having released Ryan to Wasps only to benefit from the latter’s misfortune by reacquiring Ryan on a short-term contract, the Munster hierarchy did not make a sufficiently compelling offer to prevent the player and his agent from sounding out interested parties abroad. And so it is that he moves on to the Waikato Chiefs at the end of this month. Munster conceded five of their 11 penalties at scrum time last weekend against the Lions and were fortunate not to concede a penalty try and a yellow card.
Given they couldn’t afford to make Ryan an offer he couldn’t refuse, rumours of Munster’s reported interest in Malcolm Marx look decidedly unlikely.
Quite why James Cronin — now having a fantastic season with Leicester after a successful stint at Biarritz — was released remains a mystery. Now, to lose Ryan once may be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose him twice looks like carelessness.
Discipline
After each and every single one of those opening seven games Rowntree bemoaned his side’s discipline. This is less of an Achilles heel lately, albeit there remains room for further improvement. In their opening seven games, they conceded 87 penalties, whereas in the last seven that tally has been reduced to 78.
To put this in further context, Munster didn’t win the penalty tally in any of their first seven games but have only lost the count twice since, when conceding nine penalties in a row after the bout of fisticuffs in Franklin’s Gardens as well as suffering three yellow cards.
Defence
Bearing in mind that 18-12 penalty count away to Northampton, and three yellow cards, Munster’s performance was the defensive high point of their season to date. They made a season’s high of 173 tackles and a 91 per cent success ratio (equalling the latter figure against Toulouse, before hitting 94 per cent against Leinster). More significantly they conceded only one line break and zero tries, despite Northampton’s nine entries into their 22.
Indeed, in those first seven games Munster conceded 19 tries, as against 10 in the last seven.
No less than when he was a captain, it’s no surprise that Leamy’s message is making inroads. They have become increasingly adept at making double tackles, and in identifying when to seek turnovers, which with his bear-like hands was one of Leamy’s specialities.
The threats are manifold. Against Leinster, Jack Crowley, Kleyn, Jack O’Donoghue, O’Mahony and Gavin Coombes all contributed towards forcing 10 turnovers that night.
Attack
A redesigned attack was always going to take time, but it’s also where the improvements have been the most striking.
Let’s start with the ultimate yardstick. In those opening seven games, Munster scored 13 tries, a figure which has increased to 22 in the subsequent seven matches. Line breaks have also increased dramatically, rising from 18 in the first seven games to 34 in the last seven.
Munster are making fewer handling errors as Prendergast’s methods become more familiar and they are also offloading more, and there’s no doubt that the first instinct of those in the backfield is to explore counterattacking opportunities. Given Mike Haley’s less-than-brilliant kicking game, this is also playing to his strength.
Skill levels are strikingly sharper. Forwards have become more comfortable as ball players and decision-makers, witness Niall Scannell’s line break from Jack O’Donoghue’s inside pass against Leinster in the build-up to one of Gavin Coombes’ six tries this season. While it’s no bother to Tadhg Beirne or O’Mahony, used similarly by Ireland, even Dave Kilcoyne seems to pass more than he carries now.
Facilitating Prendergast’s desire for Munster to play with more width has been the acquisition of the French-born Irish-qualified Antoine Frisch, despite an offer to remain with Bristol. Pat Lam was hardly likely to pluck a dud from the ProD2 and, physically strong in his carries, Frisch is a fine footballer with a good offloading and passing game, both short and long in hitting those edges.
After a difficult start as Munster struggled, there were signs in the last two games that Malakai Fekitoa can bring some further ballast to Munster’s midfield. For the time being, the emergence of Jack Crowley as a second playmaker dovetailing with either Joey Carbery or Ben Healy, and with his footwork, has given Munster another option.
Calvin Nash and Shane Daly, now more of an influential than peripheral figure, are others to have made progress this season.
While Munster are relatively lacking in big ball-carrying forwards — where the indefatigable Gavin Coombes carries a heavy load — central to the progress in attack has been Munster’s improved work in the collisions.
In their last two games, they have also reached seasonal highs for defenders beaten, 30 against Ulster and 29 against the Lions. One ventures that their two-second or under rucks have increased significantly of late, and in this the speed to the breakdown and running threat of Paddy Patterson, with sharply taken tries in each of the last two games, has been an unexpected boon.
Accordingly, whereas Munster never had more than 50 per cent possession in any of their first eight games, they have done so in five of their last six the exception being that win in Northampton. This rose to a season-high of 66 per cent possession away to Ulster a fortnight ago and reached 61 per cent against Toulouse and the Lions. In their last three games, Munster have forced their opponents to make 678 tackles, as against their 378.
This in turn is related to Munster’s discernible increase in fitness levels. Hence, despite trailing for 64 minutes in the Kingspan Stadium, they were able to keep the ball for 21 phases in the last play of the game for Healy’s match-winning try and conversion. It’s such a shame that he’s being lost to Scotland, but you can’t blame him for pursuing his international ambitions.
They are far from the finished article. Toulouse and Leinster gave them lessons in being more clinical, and in-game management. Munster need to turn more of their good rugby and line breaks into scores. The scrum remains a big concern. Their slow start has left them with little wriggle room in the URC, with a crunch trek to Benetton and three more must-win games at home before their South African safari to secure a place in the play-offs and next season’s Champions Cup.
They also need to maximise their return from the visit of Northampton today and away to Toulouse to both secure a Last 16 place and a better shot at reaching the quarter-finals. They are Munster after all. But they’re on the right road.
