The European season is over.
Results elsewhere made it a foregone conclusion before kickoff but only the most optimistic of people would have expected the chain of results Munster needed to sneak into the last eight to come to pass. Once Northampton had put away Lyon in Lyon, it had a feeling of inevitability about it and Glasgow’s fast start in Sale removed all doubt. By late on Saturday evening, Munster’s European journey was over, for this season at least, and Sunday’s game to be played out in a stark low Winter sun would be for pride, a good buzz and that most tantalizing thing of all – the future – more than anything else.
It was a pretty decent performance in the end.
Nobody will be writing any plays about beating the Ospreys 33-6 but there was enough there for me in the second half to not mind watching the game back over a few times before moving onto the Six Nations.
The first half, though, was an illustration of the gap that Munster have to close if we’re to make the jump from where we are now to where we’d like to be, even this season. I was concerned about our relative lack of size in the pack – front five in particular – and a lot of the early going in the first half played that out for me.
We found it very difficult to set a platform in the middle of the field and that, for me, meant a lot of our attacking work was played on a negative footing. Everything looked to be too slow, unimpactful and did little to pin the opposition in place.
That didn’t change all that much in the second half but what did happen is that the Ospreys began to tire collectively and that set the table for more space and more opportunities for Munster to find half-spaces and winnable collisions.
Munster’s first half was going incredibly poorly at one point. Wobbles in the scrum and little moments of indiscipline allowed the Ospreys to run out to a 6-0 lead at one point. Munster were pushing away but finding it very hard to stitch together successive phases where we continually stretched the Ospreys.
We’d hit the seam between Price and the last forward every now and then, but we struggled to really capitalize on these moments in a way that progressed into a position where scoring a try was inevitable.
After this very carry, Munster hit Stander for another gain but everything seemed to snarl to a halt thereafter. Right before this ball was slapped down – needlessly, I might add – but George North, we were looking to “power” that narrow space (1) to try and compress the Ospreys in the wider areas (2).
Ultimately, our work off the lineout would be the key in getting beyond Ospreys settled centre-field defence.
When we attacked off the lineout, we would know exactly where Price would be defending. In this early example on a shortened lineout, we would luck out a small bit by dragging the hooker out of the tail…
… and then attacking Baker and Lydiate inside the #10 channel with O’Donoghue and Stander holding Price, Williams and North in the wider channels. Interestingly, Stander got a lot of width for the second phase off this strike and, if anything, we were almost too eager to get the ball to him.
We’d get another chance a few minutes later and we attacked Price again. The design and execution of this lineout was the standout bit of work of Munster’s first half in my opinion.
Wycherley shifted the ball back from Two for a maul feint at Four that swivelled the ball to Murray on the loop. This stood up Lydiate at the tail and gave Arnold a look at attacking the seam between the Ospreys tail defence and Price.
Murray’s attack line beat Lydiate and allowed Arnold to cut hard against Ospreys press and set the table for Munster to score our first try a few phases later.
Late in the half, we mauled Ospreys infield and then broke off to have a crack off Price once again.
We actually have two bites off him here – once with O’Donoghue and then with Kilcoyne a phase later – and a try follows soon after.
We went in at half time 14-6 up but without ever really stitching together a whole load of cohesive rugby outside of a few flashes of what might be. A familiar story, you might say.
The second half started pretty well. I feel that O’Donoghue should have passed out of the last contact here OR we should have flown into nuke the resulting breakdown but it showed a nice bit of work on kick transition from Haley and O’Donoghue regardless.
As Ospreys began to fall off, we found more and more opportunities to attack. We almost caught Ospreys with an infield drag maul but were just a little bit off with the final piece we’d need to crack them.
Off this break, Munster were able to reset well and attack with pace across the field. Now we were hurting Ospreys across the middle of the field, disrupting their reset and that was finally creating opportunities for players to run onto positively. A try followed.
From there, Munster played out the game relatively drama-free. A strong cameo from Casey and O’Sullivan (with Healy having a few nice moments too) added to the pleasant buzz that floated off the stands at the final whistle. Munster would play no more European rugby this season but the vast majority of the 19,000 people in Thomond Park knew this the night before. They were there to show the players that if they show up, we’ll show up; both to support you today and see what’s to come tomorrow.
And whatever about anything else this Champions Cup season so far, Munster have shown up to play, faults and caveats and all, against two of the very best sides in Europe. The first half of this season has shown us that we’re an incomplete side at the moment but I’ve seen enough to think that we might well have the answers to fixing it with time. How long is that time? That’s yet to be seen. Nobody likes to be thinking “next year” every season because it starts to become a mañana, mañana, mañana situation where nothing ever gets done and then it’s some other coach’s problem but I genuinely see the seeds of a silverware winning team in this group of staff and players.
The squad needs a few new starters to either emerge from within or signed from without, I think that much is certain, but the qualities that I like to see in any Munster side – grit, determination, guts, smarts – are present in this group. The more time they have, the better the additions, the more we can talk about Munster getting a “winning mentality”. What comes first, the winning mentality or the trophy? It’s one of those pundit tropes that no one really thinks about too hard.
Munster weren’t good enough in this season’s Champions Cup. In reality, I think we left the bones of four points behind us to small moments and the happenstance of weather. If everything else played out the same, we’d have finished on 20 points and would be playing Exeter away in the quarter-finals. But we’re not. The margins are small, but they are there all the same.
Crucially, I think we know what those margins are, and that’s half the battle.
The Wally Ratings: Ospreys (H)
The Wally Ratings explainer page is here.
Players are rated based on their time on the pitch, if they were playing notably out of position, and on the overall curve of the team performance. DNP means the player did not feature and N/A means they weren’t on the pitch long enough to warrant a fair rating.
| Names | Rating |
|---|---|
| Dave Kilcoyne | ★★★★ |
| Niall Scannell | ★★★ |
| Stephen Archer | ★★★ |
| Fineen Wycherley | ★★★★ |
| Billy Holland | ★★★ |
| Jack O'Donoghue | ★★★★ |
| Peter O'Mahony | ★★★★ |
| CJ Stander | ★★★★ |
| Conor Murray | ★★★ |
| JJ Hanrahan | ★★★ |
| Calvin Nash | ★★★★ |
| Rory Scannell | ★★★ |
| Sam Arnold | ★★★★ |
| Andrew Conway | N/A |
| Mike Haley | ★★★★ |
| Kevin O'Byrne | ★★★ |
| Jeremy Loughman | ★★★ |
| John Ryan | ★★★ |
| Arno Botha | ★★★ |
| Jack O'Sullivan | ★★★ |
| Craig Casey | ★★★★ |
| Ben Healy | N/A |
| Dan Goggin | ★★★★ |
Notable Players
This was a good day out for most.
I’ve criticised Sam Arnold a lot over the last few weeks but this was the best I’ve seen from him all season. He hit the half-spaces well and made good gainline when it counted for big results. A good one.
Mike Haley continued his solid run of form. He was rock-solid under the high ball, super solid positionally and made some decent offensive plays. If he can improve his attacking edge on transition, in particular, he’ll be in with a great shout of starting for Ireland.
Dan Goggin replaced Andrew Conway early and looked really good here. He was strong in contact, dangerous in the air and consistently dangerous on set-piece schemes. The block of games after this one will be crucial for his season and I think he’s got the skills to really nail down a role in our Category 1 thoughts.
Dave Kilcoyne had a really strong game in possession and played a big part in wearing down the Ospreys centre-field defenders.
Peter O’Mahony might not be hitting the heights of 2018 (as of yet) but this was a performance that hinted at a return to what we know he can do. He was working hard in contact close to the ruck and providing a solid lineout platform until he went off.
Jack O’Donoghue had another high-quality game. He was two poor offensive decisions from getting the full five stars from me, to put in context. Everything else was really good and his man of the match award on the day was richly deserved, in my opinion.
Calvin Nash came into this game needing a standout “moment”, in my opinion. A lot of young wingers need that flash of what is possible for them to realise that, actually, they are the shit, they are the man that can win games on their own and nobody has anything for them if they get the ball with a bit of space and an angle. He didn’t have that moment in this game but, almost more importantly, he showed he can do all the other moments that make for a top back three player. Solid defence, a breakdown turnover and a few moments where the bounce of a ball going another way puts him away for a Hollywood finish. This was a good outing for Nash, and he needs to build on this in training and the next time he gets a shot onfield. Burn them the next time.
Craig Casey has the air of a superstar in waiting. He just does. When he came on the pitch yesterday there was a ripple around Thomond Park that is usually reserved for guys that aren’t making their fifth appearance for Munster. But then he does something like this with his first real touch of the ball and it starts to make sense.
Some players just have that energy about them and Casey has it in spades. Having energy is one thing, but producing on-field is another and he did that too. Sharp passing, lightning-quick lines to the breakdown, flinch-quick passing and a try – not a bad way to introduce yourself to Thomond Park on a European Cup day.
Do you want to see what a hard-working, top-end back-row looks like? Google “CJ Stander”, click on images and pick whatever one suits your fancy. Four lineout takes? Not a problem for CJ Stander. Twenty four carries for 50m? Not a problem for CJ Stander. Two tries? Not a problem for CJ Stander. I shudder to think what Munster would look like without this absolute beast of a man. A performance of real quality.
