I hate talking about the weather.
And I mean that in general, not just specifically when it comes to the context of rugby results. But we can’t talk about this game without mentioning the weather. Munster played with a strong breeze in the first half but, crucially, no horizontal rain. So when you look at Munster’s attacking work in the first half when we had possession and you see tempo, you see interplay between forwards and you see Munster finding workable space.
This is a good example.
Around 35 minutes in, the 35kmh+ wind was joined by sheets of rain blowing in horizontally over the South Terrace and changed how the game would be played for the duration of the contest.
The style that Munster have been looking to build since the arrival of Stephen Larkham – and, indeed, the impetus in looking for a senior attacking coach in the first place – was based on widening our attacking radius and moving away from the narrower, more conservative game that we had seen the limit of in the semi-final exits of the last two seasons.
So, when I mention the weather as a factor here, I know the urge to think “for fuck sake” becomes a strong one when you see the relative strength of the two sides but please believe that the weather was a defining factor in how the game would play out.
With Munster’s ability to move the ball – or even play with consistent width or tempo – completely nullified in the second half, this became a game of one out mistake ball against a Saracens side that, while certainly rotated, still had a lot of physical advantages. And when conditions dictate that you have to narrow your passing targets and reduce the scope for pop passes and tip-ons when you’re playing off #9, you can end up losing a lot of collisions.
When you’re running straight into Joel Kpuku – not the biggest name in Saracens squad, but a man who’s 6’5″ and 20 stone in his own right – having spent the 20 minutes since half time carrying into the likes of Skelton, Itoje, Lamositele, Isiekwe and Wray, it becomes hard to generate pace on the ball that can free your backs to attack wider.
The Saracens player you don’t recognise in that picture (#18 Josh Ibuanokpe) is 6’3″ and almost 21 stone. When you can’t add value to a carry by threatening a pass out of the contact, it becomes a game of physics.
Who will win a collision when an 18 stone man runs into a 21 stone man if both are coming from a standing start and only one of them has to worry about catching a greasy ball that, if he spills, can be kicked 60m down the field with a massive wind advantage?
SPOILER: It’s usually the 20 stone guy.
The weather conditions in the second half made the teamsheets irrelevant.
That isn’t to say that Munster were great here – we weren’t. I thought we were below average, even with the weather, but I can understand the context of why that was. Both sides knew that the weather was set to get drastically worse in the second half and, when Munster lost the toss, it would place a big premium on our first-half performance. Saracens knew that if they could hold out until half time, they would have a massive weather advantage in the second half.
A sloppy start put us under serious clock pressure almost immediately. A blown cleanout and carry from Stander and Farrell in midfield off a lineout led directly to a sloppy lineout overthrown to Saracens. That ate up the first 5 minutes. When Munster won a penalty and kicked down the field, some casual work by Murray invited Itoje to scrag and Saracens kicked back down the field.
A knock on 5m out – whether unforced by Archer or forced by a hand from Itoje – killed an attack that spread over five minutes.
Munster bossed possession for the next 10 minutes but only managed to get on the scoreboard on 18 minutes. We had a disallowed try on 21 minutes and lost a key lineout on 25 minutes. Time was ticking away.
On 29 minutes, we went wide off a nicely taken lineout and, after bringing Saracens across the field at pace, finally found a bit of a break out wide.
Scannell flung a miss pass to Earls and, when he was stopped at the 5m line, Murray found O’Mahony sprinting onto the ball for a class finish at close range. Munster got pace on the ball, width on the pass from #9 and that created space to play with.
30 minutes in and we were on the board with a try but we didn’t manage the next five minutes very well. A poor enough box kick exit from Murray under pressure from Itoje gave Saracens good field position and this penalty allowed Saracens to have a nice long kick at goal.
The penalty was awarded at 33:06 and Ben Spencer kicked the ball at 34:10 – another minute gone – and when the ball came back off the upright, Farrell’s relieving kick barrelled off Archer’s arm and straight into Richard Barrington’s hands.
Saracens earned another penalty soon after this and when we got the ball back, there were four minutes left in the half.
We earned a scrum opportunity right before the halftime whistle but we couldn’t control the ball at the back of it…
… and that was that for the first half.
We left a few opportunities behind us and we were badly undone by some sloppy errors at key moments when we had the conditions to build a score. When the weather drastically worsened, it made the second half a lottery. If it was just rain, then Munster could have played closer to how we wanted. If it was just wind, Munster could have played closer to how we wanted. But combine both and it made for a difficult slog of a second-half that we were lucky enough to get away with, in the end.
Defensively, I thought Munster were mostly excellent, especially in the second half and as the clock ticked away and did well to turn the territory and possession around in the last quarter. Even with the conditions, I thought our final quarter was disappointingly error-strewn.
Poor cleanout decisions, badly timed lineouts, bad passes, unforced handling errors – they’re all easier to do when conditions are bad but they kept Saracens in the game as they transitioned to their bench.
We had enough ball and territory to at least deny Saracens a losing bonus point but we couldn’t manage it. In the end, it took an excellent Jack O’Donoghue lineout steal to secure the result after Arno Botha’s late red card.
Losing this game would have been unthinkable given Saracens selection and, given the conditions, we’ll take the four points through gritted teeth. On another day – even earlier in the day – I think Munster would have had the game to at least stretch out beyond seven points against this Saracens side but conditions narrowed our ability to play the game we’d need to break down a very well drilled Saracens side.
Ultimately, I think the strength of Saracens starting front five and the physical stature of their front five replacements played a big part in their losing bonus point. As the conditions worsened, I thought our relative size differential in the pack became a problem the more ball we retained. I think we lost too many straight-up offensive collisions in the second half to pressurise Saracens and that’s a problem that won’t be solved this season if we play in conditions where we can’t add value to our individual ball carries. Our scrum was good, our lineout was mostly good but I think when it comes to one on one physicality in conditions like this, we’re a bit light when we can’t dictate where the collisions happen.
We’ll take the win and rue the weather. Whatever else happens, next week will tell an awful lot about where we are.
The Wally Ratings: Saracens (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 | ★★ |
| Billy Holland | ★★ |
| Jean Kleyn | ★★★ |
| Tadhg Beirne | ★★★ |
| Peter O'Mahony | ★★★★ |
| CJ Stander | ★★★★ |
| Conor Murray | ★ |
| JJ Hanrahan | ★★★ |
| Keith Earls | ★★★★ |
| Rory Scannell | ★★★ |
| Chris Farrell | ★★ |
| Andrew Conway | ★★★ |
| Mike Haley | ★★★ |
| Kevin O'Byrne | N/A |
| Liam O'Connor | ★★★ |
| John Ryan | ★★ |
| Fineen Wycherley | ★★★ |
| Jack O'Donoghue | ★★★★ |
| Nick McCarthy | DNP |
| Sam Arnold | DNP |
| Arno Botha | N/A |
Notable Players
Jean Kleyn has had a quiet enough return to Munster post-Japan but I thought he really stacked up well here. Some impactful carries and powerful rucking was a key part of the first half performance. Encouraging.
I felt Billy Holland, Stephen Archer, John Ryan and Niall Scannell had pretty mixed games that fell a bit below their best. Combined, I thought they lost too many offensive collisions – especially in the second half – but the set-piece went pretty well, the scrum in particular. An incomplete performance, in my opinion.
Conor Murray did not half a good game. Did he have poor ball to work with in the second half? Yes. Did he get good range on some of his passing in the first half? Yes. But he had a number of individual errors that we just don’t associate with Conor Murray. He’s well off his best at the moment. And it’s not just down to a few bad passes – he seems to be making poor decisions combined with some uncharacteristic passing errors.
That’s a good example. Earls doesn’t get a pass that would have put him off down the touchline and the pass we do get was too difficult to execute in the moment, even on penalty advantage. He hasn’t turned into a poor player overnight (or even over the last year) but he just seems to be forcing it right now.
I thought James Cronin and Liam O’Connor had pretty good outings here. Cronin did well in the scrum and in open play – one lifting error in the lineout aside – and I thought O’Connor did very well in his 10 minutes under tough physical pressure in the scrum.
Keith Earls was the standout back on display in my opinion. He looked consistently dangerous in possession and was unlucky not to pop on the scoreboard himself. Consistently excellent.
Rory Scannell had two lovely passes but I felt he went to the carry a little too often again in the second half.
Jack O’Donoghue came off the bench and had a very strong outing. This was a victory securing moment under real pressure.
And he made a big play earlier in the half in sacking a Saracens maul. A really good cameo from him and I thought it was something he badly needed.
Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander were really good here. Stander was a constant source of physical pressure in attack and defence, running himself to a standstill around 70 minutes. Peter O’Mahony had a really prominent game on defensive lineouts but showed up well at the offensive and defensive breakdown too. We needed big games from both players and they showed up for work to provide just that.
