I wrote before the game that if Munster were to underperform in this contest, that we would very likely lose. To be exact, I said the following;
As with two weeks ago, if Munster are “off” in this game, we will likely lose this game because Cardiff are a dangerous, chronically undervalued opponent who are stronger than they have been the last few times we’ve played them. I’ve covered Cardiff quite extensively this season, both pre and post-Dai Young, and they are a side that can really threaten us if given the position to do so.
This ended up being both true and false. Munster were “off” for large stretches of this game, Cardiff did threaten us when we gave them the position to do so but we didn’t lose, just about, and even managed a bonus point that sent us top of the Rainbow Cup North standings for 24 hours. Munster both did and did not deserve to win this game but, as we’ve seen so often, deserve’s got nothing to do with it. It’s fair to say that it was a weird enough ould 80 minutes and that’s before the bizarre finish which resembled the last few minutes of a courtroom drama more than it did a rugby match.
On that finish, I think it’s a pretty clear case of a player returning the ball into the ruck (16.f). For me, the ball was out of the ruck when it rolled into open space – essentially, the old chestnut that the ruck is over if a seagull could drop a deuce on the ball.
Williams clearly believes it’s out – that’s why he prodded it back in – and while it’s a corny enough way to end a game, the Captain’s Challenge trial law allows that to be reviewed. It’d rarely be called during a game by a referee, but if it can be challenged and clearly is a case of a player putting the ball back into the ruck, then it must be a freekick and a turnover. The only thing to take from this is that the Captain’s Challenge, as a concept, needs to go. The earlier example of Munster successfully challenging a penalty but still conceding the penalty nonetheless was further evidence of that if you wanted it.
***
If we go back and look at the Red Eye before the game, I was pretty clear on where and how I felt this game could be won and lost.
Cardiff’s biggest weakness, for me, is playing out of their own half. A relatively conservative kicking game off #10 that puts their back three under pressure to kick in return – Amos, in particular – could pay dividends but, in reality, I think any scenario that puts Tomos Williams and Jarrod Evans in a position where they have to exit accurately has the potential to give us good launching points in their half.
Any strategy that puts Cardiff inside their own 10m line for their starter plays is a good move, for me, even if it means playing quite conservatively in our own half initially. With the right kind of wing pressure on the chase off #9 and #10, we have the mobility and work-rate in our back to be really aggressive in their half of the field on D and at the break down if we have the kicking game to pin them in place.
I don’t mean to make these Wally Ratings into the equivalent of one of those clip shows from an old sitcom, but I want to illustrate that I’m not speaking from a Captain Hindsight perspective. I believed pre-game that a kick heavy game that focused on forcing Cardiff to take the ball in the backfield under pressure and then go to their exit plays from inside their own 10m line would be something that could pay dividends.
Time and again, when Munster kicked and pressured well, we were rewarded with workable territory, attackable exit points and even possession, on occasion.
All through the contest, you can see the positive, tangible results gained through smart kicking and good chase pressure that attacked Cardiff’s reset play deep in their own half and their work in the air on kick receipt – Conway was particularly good in that regard.
When we kicked well, we were able to keep a dangerous, effective opponent away from stacking phases around our 10m line and further in while also producing repeatable transition opportunities, like the one that lead directly to the winning try.
When we kicked poorly, we gifted Cardiff momentum and the kind of territory that we really wanted to keep them away from. This is just one example;
The biggest issue, for me, was Munster consistently undoing decent positions with a litany of unforced errors, sloppy penalties and turnovers, some of which I’ve included in this montage.
They sapped momentum and blew up hard-won positions all throughout the game and if we’d fallen on the wrong side of the result, the blame would lie squarely on those inaccurate moments and I wasn’t even able to fit all of them into that 60-second long montage.
Make no mistake, Cardiff showed up to play here, with a strong selection and some of the best phase play work I’ve seen all season at Thomond Park. They don’t have a whole load of line breaking forwards – although Seb Davies looks like a great wide-channel athlete – but they do have a system that produces consistent opportunities based on strong role selections. They ran variants of a 3-3-1 and 3-2-1 but when they had possession in Munster’s half, they looked consistently dangerous. They are heavily reliant on the accuracy of their primary handler, more so than a lot of teams, but when Evans is “on” he can find passes that no every player can.
I said in the Blood & Thunder Podcast pre-game that I felt overcommitting to the breakdown was a high-risk play against Cardiff given that it didn’t produce a lot of results against their system previously but that isn’t exactly how it worked here.
We managed to pick up two key penalties by attacking the width they needed off #9 at key moments. Those were big moments in the flow of this game.
Side entry penalties are a side effect of playing with a lot of width across the middle because any lost collision or line deviation from a forward on those setups can leave the ensuing ruck exposed, like the above. We needed those moments – and the moments generated by our kicking – in a game where we lurched between highly efficient attacking play off the lineout maul and error-strewn indiscipline against a quality opponent.
Even with the obvious poor moments during the game, there were moments of tactical coherence and quality on an obviously emotional night for the squad. Watching Tommy O’Donnell come off the field knowing that it was the last time he’ll play for the province was genuinely moving. This is a player who has given every ounce of himself to this province over a long career wracked by brutal injury after brutal injury. When I saw him well up on the sideline after coming off the field, I saw a guy who lived the dream long enough to see the end of it.
It’s just a pity that there was no crowd there to see him off. I’m sure we’ll see him – and the other departing players – back in Thomond Park next season so a full crowd can pay their respects but it won’t quite be the same as seeing guys going out on their shields in the heat of a tight game.
Such is life during a pandemic.
The players’ rendition of Stand Up and Fight after the game was emotional to watch. Some of those players will never sing that song as active Munster players ever again. A small enough thing in the context of the world we’re living in at the moment, yes, but it’s a big thing for those players.
Some will play for other teams, for certain, but for guys like O’Donnell and Stander, this is it for them in Thomond Park.
This is a special club.
Never let anyone tell you differently.
Notable Players
Jean Kleyn has been a cornerstone player for Munster this season and, in reality, for the last few seasons as one of the true top-end sluggers in our front five. He was at the usual grunt work here again here with some strong work in the offensive and defensive maul in particular. Kleyn is the type of heavy role specialist that will thrive when you put ample size and power around him so that all of his attributes can be fully realised in the pack build. In that regard, I think you’ll see his full value when Munster can select RG Snyman and Jason Jenkins alongside him next season but for now, he showed the kind of power output that we’ll need if we make the Rainbow Cup final.
Craig Casey had one poor kicking error in the first half but, that aside, I thought he played a composed, mature game that bristled with the kind of attitude that we’ve come to expect from him. His general standard of passing and kicking was really good – his kicking, in particular, has really improved over this season – but it was the “attitude” moments that stood out to me.
This scrag on his opposite number set an attackable ruck position for Munster in what would amount to a key penalty and our first try. He was involved in the winning of the game too with a brave stop on Matthew Morgan on a kick transition that opened up space for a turnover which, a few phases later, lead to Keynan Knox barging over.
Even in the build-up to that, Casey is just hitting his targets. Coombes bangs over the gainline here but if the pass from Casey is too far behind or too low, Coombes has to check his run and that, in turn, buys the defence more time.
How many times do you see small little errors like that in key moments? With Casey, you don’t really see that because he doesn’t make those kinds of passing errors in key moments. When Munster needed accuracy to pull back the win, Casey had it in spades during a crunch few minutes.
After my live watch through, I had Fineen Wycherley rated as a two-star guy, even with the first half try. The sloppy offside penalty in the first half stood out to me and I had a frozen picture of him getting stood up by Evans for the first try stuck in my mind. Then I watched the game back a second and third time.
I saw that white scrum cap taking some good lineout takes. Nice. Then I saw some good tackles and big stops. Better. Then I saw a rake of strong offensive maul moments. Now we’re into three-star territory. Then I started taking note of his ruck entries and he was everywhere for the full 80 minutes.
On the sequence for the winning try, Wycherley made four key ruck involvements and that’s before the latch on Knox for the actual try itself. This one on to support a Coombes carry was outstanding – strong, dominant and right on the edge, as it has to be if it’s to be effective.
He played a key role in defending the close-range Cardiff maul in the last five minutes that helped secure the win with a really strong in-field brace that prevented Cardiff from getting momentum in that direction which opened up the disruption that would ultimately see it turned over. A strong, improved performance.
If you go back and watch the kicking highlights from above, you’ll see Andrew Conway involved constantly as a chasing threat. When a winger isn’t getting opportunities to stretch their legs in attack, they need to show up in the ugly parts of the back three job description; putting pressure on receivers, hassling transition runners, scrapping for a dropping ball and making big stops when required. Conway did all that and then some in a performance full of the focus and grit he made his name on. The Bomber is back.
Keynan Knox is the kind of physical bruiser we need in the front five. Full stop. End of sentence.
He brings the kind of power that puts guys on their back, like this shot on Cory Hill. Front five players can take support roles, sure, but you need some heavy leather to win collisions and, frankly, beat guys up. Knox looks like he has the stuff to be that type of guy.
His try was a good example. It’s not just Knox here, it’s the latch from O’Sullivan and Wycherley too but Knox has to ride out the initial hit to ensure the latch stays a latch and doesn’t become a cleanout on the try line.
He’s got the power to do just that. A big 20 odd minutes for the big guy.
Speaking of big guys, I’m not sure if Munster win this game without the impact of Gavin Coombes off the bench. In the build-up to the winning try, Gavin Coombes won the initial turnover and then carried the ball three times in the sequence – over the gainline each time.
But then, he did that from the minute he came on.
BANG. Over the gainline, pumping his legs, winning collisions. Whatever happens to Munster going forward, Gavin Coombes has to be at the heart of it. This 20-minute showcase of big-time power was exactly what we needed right as we began to lose control of the scoreboard during Haley’s sin-bin. Top class stuff.
The Wally Ratings: Cardiff (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 |
|---|---|
| James Cronin | ★★★ |
| Niall Scannell | ★★ |
| Stephen Archer | ★★ |
| Jean Kleyn | ★★★★ |
| Fineen Wycherley | ★★★★ |
| Jack O'Donoghue | ★★ |
| Tommy O'Donnell | ★★★ |
| CJ Stander | ★★★ |
| Craig Casey | ★★★★ |
| Joey Carbery | ★★★ |
| Shane Daly | ★★ |
| Rory Scannell | ★★ |
| Damian De Allende | ★★★ |
| Andrew Conway | ★★★★ |
| Mike Haley | ★★ |
| Diarmuid Barron | ★★ |
| Jeremy Loughman | ★★ |
| Keynan Knox | ★★★★ |
| Gavin Coombes | ★★★★ |
| Peter O'Mahony | ★★★ |
| Nick McCarthy | N/A |
| Jack Crowley | ★★★ |
| Jack O'Sullivan | ★★ |
