Wins in the Sportsground don’t come easy.
This is only Connacht’s third loss in Galway this year. There was our win in January, Leinster’s win a few weeks back and now this win here. As a result and, more importantly, a performance I think this game will age really well over the course of this season. It was needed.
On the evidence of the last five weeks, Munster haven’t really been blowing the doors off when you compare their results to Ulster and Leinster. But when you look a little deeper, and you see an incredibly challenging run of opponents. After two solid enough wins over Cardiff and Ulster followed by that bonus point win in Swansea, it’s been a procession of extremely difficult games. I’m talking a full bore Racing 92 at home, followed by a heavy rotation against a full-strength Edinburgh side, and then a back to back series against the European Champions.
So Munster’s form heading into this one – DLWL – one win in four, essentially, might have been a little deceptive given the strength of our recent schedule. Munster’s start in this game would be crucial because it would signal our overall approach to the game. Were we going to play this one loose and look to win a gunfight? Or were we going to leverage the lessons of the last few weeks, back our physicality and play a pragmatic, conservative game in a difficult away day scenario?
The smart answer is the latter so, with a smart coaching group, it’s no surprise to see we did just that. We box-kicked a lot in our own half of the field – essentially kicking to Connacht – and backing our chase and transition reset.
The moment you see below is a good illustration;
Casey kicked well, Liam Coombes pressured the receiver well and in the ensuing scramble, Munster received the ball back and ran it up to the halfway for a 28-metre territory gain.
A few phases after that, Munster kicked again through Hanrahan and ended up winning a scrum on the Connacht 10m line after a knock-on under the high ball from Tom Daly under pressure from Shane Daly. That scrum ended up being reversed after a few resets but Munster weren’t long moving Connacht back up the field with excellent pressure off the lineout and some dominant hits in the resulting phases.
From the resulting kickback, Munster weren’t looking to over chase the kick turnover or trade transitions with a dangerous set of Connacht outside backs – they were looking to leverage territory with more smart kicking.
Hanrahan sent Liam Coombes off under a high ball, forced an error out of Connacht and then pressured the resulting scramble.
Munster penalty. 3-0.
That penalty would really set the template for the winning of this game. Physical defence forcing Connacht errors and then ruthless punishment of those errors off the tee.
A Conor Fitzgerald penalty – after a slow roll away from Holland at a defensive breakdown – evened up the scores but Munster pressured the restart and, after a slow Connacht chase post-exit, we were back attacking along the Connacht 22. There was no need for Munster to start overplaying here either and we didn’t.
Sure, the option was there – and Hanrahan was buzzing around nicely – but when your forwards are winning collisions, you let them at it. The excellent Craig Casey – hard to believe this was his first-ever start as a senior professional – ran the Munster carriers around the rotation with accuracy and real tempo.
I’ll have a feature on Casey’s game this week, but the maturity of his performance helped Munster blow through the forward exchanges with constant go-forward. The forwards were presenting Casey with good ball and he was rewarding them with tempo and accuracy – they fed into each other excellently.
The above exchange lead directly to an offside penalty that Hanrahan would kick to extend the lead.
Off the restart, Munster went back to what worked; kick to exit, pressure the receiver, win collisions in defence, force a kickback and then add value to our territorial position with smart carrying and tactical kicking.
That’s exactly what happened in the build-up to the first try. Here’s Hanrahan with the best tactical kick of the evening.
It’s an error from Conor Fitzgerald in the end but he was put into a position to make that error. From that lineout, Munster would squeeze the 5m line and Jack O’Donoghue would get over for a decisive score from close range soon after.
And that was the game, more or less. The second half was punctuated by smart use of territory, physical domination in contact, excellent use of possession by our halfbacks and a rock-solid lineout, maul and the scrum, especially later in the game.
We started to kick a little loosely in the last quarter and those transition opportunities let Connacht back into the game. A sloppy enough sequence of defence put Connacht in position to score a late try to squeeze the result but I thought we finished the game really strongly from there and, bar a few iffy moments, more than deserved the win overall.
Leinster are next, and we’ll need to be better again there, but I really enjoyed how confidently Munster played in this one. We figured we’d have an advantage upfront when it came to collisions on either side of the ball and we backed our halfbacks and defensive lineout/maul to help us win and maintain territory.
This was smart, tough, winning rugby.
The Wally Ratings: Connacht (A)
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 | ★★★ |
| Kevin O'Byrne | ★★★ |
| Stephen Archer | ★★★ |
| Billy Holland | ★★★★ |
| Jean Kleyn | ★★★★ |
| Gavin Coombes | N/A |
| Chris Cloete | ★★★★ |
| CJ Stander | ★★★★ |
| Craig Casey | ★★★★★ |
| JJ Hanrahan | ★★★★★ |
| Liam Coombes | ★★★★ |
| Dan Goggin | ★★★★ |
| Chris Farrell | ★★★★ |
| Calvin Nash | ★★★ |
| Shane Daly | ★★★★ |
| Diarmuid Barron | DNP |
| Jeremy Loughman | ★★★ |
| Keynan Knox | ★★★★ |
| Fineen Wycherley | ★★★ |
| Jack O'Donoghue | ★★★★★ |
| Neil Cronin | ★★★ |
| Ben Healy | DNP |
| Sammy Arnold | ★★★ |
Notable Players
I was really impressed with our back three. They had 33 caps between them but I thought Liam Coombes, Shane Daly and Calvin Nash had really strong games in every facet of the game you could expect from your back three.
They unhinged well and attacked as a unit. They were solid under the high ball and set good screens for each other. They were a hair away from finishing off a few strike moves. Considering they were up against some very experienced pros, I thought they handled themselves excellently. Nash dipped down to a three-star on the back of some poor kicks in the second half but I really liked everything else I saw from him. Good stuff overall.
I thought Chris Farrell and Dan Goggin had very effective, strong games. Farrell just dominated physically in every aspect of his performance. He was lacing into the Connacht line and winning collisions on every other carry. He looked like a guy making a point and he certainly did that. Powerful.
Dan Goggin made some excellent defensive reads on Connacht’s set-piece and big openside plays. He was caught on one or two of those reads but I thought we were using his pace to disrupt Connacht’s passing lines and pressure their layered attackers – he did this well. I really liked his work at the breakdown and how well he moved the ball. A mature, physical performance.
I thought CJ Stander and Jean Kleyn were big difference makers for Munster on both sides of the ball. They were physically dominant in every collision they took on and really pushed us on phase for phase. With Billy Holland in the mix, Munster were always going to be solid in the lineout and in defence but the work he does in moving the ball around and varying our attacking positions with his feints and smooth passing. Even at 34, he’s evolving his game.
Keynan Knox wasn’t on the field for very long but gets a hefty ★★★★ for this bit of scrummaging against Denis Buckley – who’s no soft touch in the scrum by any means.
Rumble young man, rumble.
Jack O’Donoghue had a statement game here. He came on after 10 minutes for Gavin Coombes – who was looking really good himself before he went off for a HIA – and spent the rest of the game doing what he does best; killing mauls, stealing lineouts and showing up for work on both sides of the ball. He scored a good close-range try too and looked like a guy stepping up a few levels while having a profound impact on the game. Quality. ★★★★★
JJ Hanrahan has taken a fair bit of criticism over the past few weeks. The missed drop-goal, the penalty miss against Saracens… these are moments that every flyhalf has to endure. Outside of these moments, Hanrahan’s work has been of the highest standard for a while now. His goal kicking was a game-winner here but what stood out to me was the general quality of his decision making and tactical execution. It was vital that we played this game in the right areas and Hanrahan ensured that with every touch. He pinned Connacht back well, launched our chasers with excellent accuracy, ran our attack with pace and variety and made very few errors, all while keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Outstanding. ★★★★★
Craig Casey has mastered the art of making the very difficult look simple that it changes how you see him. Casey ran this game from #9 with the maturity, composure and accuracy of a player with 50 caps which sounds great until you realise that this was his third appearance as a senior professional. It was his first start as a professional.
Look at the confidence and tempo of his approach to these two phases.
No wasted steps on his line to the breakdown. No wasted motion on the ball. He just grips, IDs his target and sends the ball right where he needs to be with pace and accuracy on the pass.
Some of his box-kicking was pretty average, for sure, but that’s an area that every scrumhalf needs to work on. Yet, even under pressure, he never shirked his responsibilities there and came out on the right side of the ledger. Craig Casey is 20 years of age and he’s playing with the assurance of a full senior international.
That is rare, especially in a position with as many involvements as scrumhalf.
He made 67 passes and after three watch throughs, I’m struggling to find more than 3 that fell below “good”. Again, this is rare.
I’m sure he’ll have down days in his career but what we saw here – a reliable, assured, calm performance that showcased his basics rather than one or two fireworks – hints at a player with potential of the highest level.
I’m not sure what “it” is but I do know that what whatever “it” is, Craig Casey has it in spades.
★★★★★
