“When were good, I think we’re very good. The problem is when we’re poor, we’re being very poor.”
Tadhg Beirne’s succinct summation tells you the most important information from a thrilling, yet demoralising defeat for Munster away to Northampton.
Gavin Coombes’ time in the sinbin either side of half-time, coupled with a sloppy third quarter, was the province’s undoing in a defeat which more than likely leaves them travelling away from home for a third consecutive year in the Champions Cup knockouts.
Ireland’s Six Nations squad, winners and losers
Up 15-5 with six minutes remaining until half-time, repeated Munster penalties inside their own 22 saw a yellow card brandished to Coombes. Northampton scored off a maul immediately after to end the half. They added another try just before Coombes’ reintroduction, the platform offered by a Diarmuid Kilgallen spill when trying to gather a kick in behind.
The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times
Leo Cullen praises solution-focused Leinster for fighting back after blistering Bath start
Leinster demolish 14-man Bath to go undefeated in Champions Cup pool stages
‘When we’re poor, we’re being very poor’: Munster rue sloppiness in Northampton defeat
Despite a raft of forward substitutions in a bid to stem the flow, further penalties and errors allowed Northampton to march back down the pitch before James Ramm crossed for the bonus point. That try opened up a two score lead which, given the final margin, proved crucial.
“The big thing was that third period,” said Munster interim head coach Ian Costello. “They were really good ball in hand, we were inaccurate, gave away a couple of penalties that allowed them go deep into our line.
“They scored 12 points, and we struggled to get our hands on the ball ... and we knew that was going to be really important. So I suppose it gave them a lead, we got close enough in the end but I think the bottom line is we weren’t good enough tonight and didn’t deserve to win it.
When Coombes’ yellow card expired, Costello sent on Stephen Archer, Niall Scannell, Tom Ahern and Jack O’Donoghue alongside the number eight in a bid to restore some of the collision dominance which saw Munster build a first half lead.
“We got a huge bounce off the bench last week, bringing four subs on,” explained Costello. “We were looking for the same impact today. Probably got disrupted with Gavin getting sin binned and we looked to get the four of them on with Gavin, looking for that swing in momentum. We didn’t quite get it.”
There was enough of a response to that dismal third quarter to make the game close in the final stages. Kilgallen notched a debut try off Conor Murray’s clever inside ball, but it only took Northampton four minutes to restore their two score lead. Tom Seabrook scored his third off a clever lineout launch play, Munster’s defence being caught at the back of the lineout.
“They were lethal as we know off strikes,” said Costello. “When you give them that much field position through our own inaccuracies that’s what’s going to happen.”
“What might look like a really good try to the average supporter, we’re looking at that as a terrible try to concede in terms of our systems,” said Munster captain Beirne. “That’s the stuff that we’ll be frustrated with.
“We need to be very good for a lot longer periods in the game and that’s the frustrating thing. There’s belief in this group with what we can do it’s about putting the foot down and doing it ideally for 80 minutes. We’ll be hard to live with when we do that.”
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
