[su_dropcap style=”flat” size=”4″]A[/su_dropcap]s has become the norm over the winter stretch of the PRO14, the weather would dictate the where and the how of the flow of this game.
I mean, look at that.
You’d feel bad about putting a frog out in those conditions but there we all were, playing our game in it regardless. So much of rugby from October to March has become about poring over weather websites and trying to work out what scene from The Day After Tomorrow you’re going to be playing in at the weekend. This week, for example, both sides would have known that having too much phase possession anywhere outside the opponent’s 10m line was a mug’s game for silly boys so a premium would be placed on exiting your own half well, being error-free under the opponent’s kicks and taking any opportunity to move up the field with possession – winning penalties and/or launching well off any set piece the opposition gives you.
It would be reductive to boil this game down to three scrum penalties and a flawless lineout performance but it’s no surprise to me that the sequences that lead to all three of Munster’s tries started with big scrum penalties.
I felt before the game that Munster could stack up well in the scrum against this particular Edinburgh pack – they had issues against Glasgow a few rounds ago – but these penalties were something else and a continuation of what Munster have been trying to do all season. Munster scored tries in the 29th, 36th and 55th minute and the territory gained by these scrum penalties were key stage posts in making our way up the field in conditions that were not conducive to incisive passages of phase play from long range.
In fact, if you look at both sides behaviours in possession, they followed a principle of working into position in their own half of the field and then kicking to generate limited transition opportunities or better quality kicking situations.
Here’s a pretty clear example;
Both sides would probe away for a phase or two until they found a position they felt comfortable playing off. Van Der Walt’s kick behind Daly earned Edinburgh just such a position on the kickback but you can make out how limiting the conditions were as they flowed back across the pitch. The box kick from the Munster 10m line was an attempt to restart that process but Sau took Haley in the air and Munster would have a penalty.
From that maul, Munster would box kick again off the back and then pressure the Edinburgh receipt. Within two phases of the take, Jack O’Donoghue won a breakdown penalty – again a product of the narrowing off #9 that was a product of the conditions – and that gave Munster a lineout position to launch off.
I wrote before the game about the importance of maul breaks and lineout strikes in this game and how the absence of Ritchie and Watson could, in theory, open up more space for Munster to exploit off any situation that could compress the Edinburgh back row.
Here’s what we saw off the lineout that directly followed O’Donoghue’s jackal penalty.
We went for De Allende on the angled crash off this maul feint and you can see Crosbie and Mata packed in that #10 channel. Pay attention to Mata here – he’s the last forward defender as De Allende angles in. In this instance, Mata concedes a penalty for not rolling away and Munster tied up the scores off the tee.
Now have a look at these other lineout strikes and maul breaks;
In the first example, you can see Crosbie making the first tackle on Farrell and how that forces Mata and Cherry onto the openside of the collision point. Munster immediately looked to work the ball to a positive angle outside the press of the Edinburgh backline and that opened up a kicking lane for Haley.
In the second example, Munster move the ball outside the radius of Crosbie and Mata. Crosbie has to pillar up on the ruck as he covers across the field off the break and that, again, opens up a kicking lane for Daly in the second layer.
By the third example, you can how a dominant close range Munster maul left Mata and Crosbie well away from the progression of the ball across the field on penalty advantage. If the passing was a little sharper here, it’s probably a try.
This was present all through the game and Munster were able to pass outside the press of the Edinburgh defence because they always had to commit to the midfield threat of De Allende, Chris Farrell or both.
On the second example, the most expansive strike of the night right up until the last pass, you can see the principle in stark relief.
De Allende is the first screened runner and his ball-carrying threat exerts gravity on Crosbie mainly but holds Mata’s progression across the field too.
The next stage of the attack is Farrell exerting his gravity on Mata directly while Casey releases out to Hanrahan with Daly as a pocket runner.
Crosbie is out of the game at this point, Edinburgh have sat down on our big midfield threats – exactly to the scheme – and if Haley can get the ball across his body cleanly off Daly’s pass, Andrew Conway scores a try here nine times out of ten.
Gavin Coombes try was another example of the principle. Look at the island of space around Luke Crosbie as he guards the flank of the maul here.
When De Allende runs a pinch line on Mata, Casey can arc around and attack Crosbie’s lateral progression across the space. Casey can’t quite get over the line but Gavin Coombes does after Edinburgh panic post-break and leave an unguarded lane for Coombes to bang into. That’s what pressure does to you.
A bonus point was on for Munster at that point but an unforced error off the restart lead to 12 minutes of Edinburgh possession deep in our 22 that they ultimately came away empty-handed from, but it left Munster looking for an opportunity to progress the ball as we had done previously.
A scrum on the Edinburgh 10m line in the 72nd minute had potential but Loughman was rightly penalised for going straight to the floor and that felt a lot like the end of our bonus point ambitions until a manic 8-minute long red clock saw multiple penalty concessions, Edinburgh pushing for a losing bonus and Munster almost finding a try on knock-on transition after a series of offloads by Billy Holland and Kevin O’Byrne.
It was not to be.
Even without the bonus, this felt like a significant win given the conditions. It was a victory achieved on the back of incredibly strong scrummaging, a near-flawless lineout performance, patient, accurate kicking and backfield handling and smart tactical strikes at the areas where Edinburgh were weakened with really nice execution in the conditions for the most part.
Ultimately, Munster worked their way into the Edinburgh 22 four times in this game and converted every single one of those entries into points. In the conditions, that’s a pretty good return. It also can’t be ignored that Munster have played seven games away from Thomond Park this season – the most away games in the league so far this season – and have won all but one. That kind of performance on the road is a large part of why Munster are currently 9 points clear at the top of this conference with four games left to play.
Notable Players
This was Andrew Conway’s first game back after two months out so you can write off the uncharacteristic errors under the high ball as what they were – an aberration. He showed glimpses of the old Conway in the last few minutes with an electric break in a broken field and that will come with time, as long the injury he picked up in the act of making the break (you can point the finger at a near 10-minute break in play for that one) isn’t too serious. Good to see him back out there.
The entire pack played incredibly well but I want to focus on four guys in particular.
I’ve criticised Niall Scannell’s performances quite a bit this season because I felt that he was “off-role” a little too often. That is to say, he was doing more of the things I feel that he isn’t good at and less of what he is good at. This has often translated to games where he’s taking on a lot of offensive on-ball carrying off #9 and losing collisions. He did carry here, yes, but I thought he was effective in what he did and worked really hard in defence. His scrummaging was absolutely fantastic – he nuked his opposite number multiple times – and his lineout throwing was back to what it was at his very best with varied and accurate throws all through the line. Excellent stuff.
What better way for Jack O’Donoghue to celebrate his new two-year deal at the province than by scoring a try and frightening the life of the Edinburgh lineout?
O’Donoghue has turned into an extremely well-balanced combo-flanker with a huge upside at the set-piece combined with sharp, athletic work in the wide channels, accurate breakdown work on both sides of the ball and solid defensive fundamentals. He seemed to show up every other few minutes in this game and was a constant positive in a strong collective performance. Chris Cloete was superb here too and was a menace at the breakdown, especially with his current measured approach to which rucks to attack.
Jean Kleyn is one of the most underrated locks in the country and, for me, a cornerstone player in this Munster pack. He just knows his role perfectly – he is there to help win offensive collision points, he is there to catch and drive, he is there to stop guys in the tackle and he is there to scrummage.
Munster’s performance in the scrum can’t be separated from the tighthead lock scrummaging put in by Jean Kleyn in this game. He’s big, he’s strong and he’s like a tractor pushing through his prop at scrum time. Go back and watch that scrum montage earlier in the article and watch the power coming through Ryan from Kleyn in the second row. That’s a valuable commodity in a game like this.
Keep an eye on Kleyn’s crucial stop and twist on this Edinburgh maul surge during the first half. Part of a collective, yes, but when you go through his time on the field you find these moments everywhere. Invaluable.
Gavin Coombes can be more than a little frustrated that he finds himself outside the Ireland squad convened for that upcoming Italy game. On the evidence of this game, however, Ireland’s loss this week is certainly Munster’s gain because Gavin Coombes is carrying well, he’s stopping heavy runners like Haining, Gilchrist and Mata stone dead in close range contact and he’s building on his passing and support play skillset with every passing game. Not his time yet in green but he’s racking up the big moments in a red jersey that will only add to his growing arsenal as a top-class power forward.
This was a big weekend for Craig Casey. Not getting on the field last weekend against France would have stung, because it implied a level of distrust from his coach. If there’s one thing Craig Casey has shown since his breakthrough last season it’s that it doesn’t matter what the game is, you can trust him to always perform.
So when he came back to Munster this week, you just knew he was going to get close to 80 minutes to show what he’s about. Wind, rain, it doesn’t matter. I get the feeling that it could be raining razor blades and battery acid out there and Casey would still be rearing for road. The conditions were especially difficult for scrumhalves here because wind plus lashing rain usually plays havoc with your two primary skills – passing and kicking. Casey had a few problematic moments under strong counter-ruck pressure, but he recovered from the vast majority of those moments and pushed Munster on with really good accuracy ruck to ruck and incisive breaking around the collision and maul.
His try was a just reward for that industry. I think even Mike Adamson would agree that Casey refereed this game excellently and that’s another feather in the cap of a young player who’s already showing the kind of big character that you need to be a top player in this game. His time will come internationally with a bit of luck with injury it just comes down to when Andy Farrell actually wants to plug this future cornerstone into place. Class.
Shane Daly had a class evening, for my money. He just didn’t make mistakes in a game where the conditions mandated that he should probably make at least one. He’s got levels and levels still to go, which is exciting because the nuts and bolts of his game look top drawer.
Billy Holland has 240 Munster caps after this weekend’s game. That’s the second-most in the history of the province alongside iconic names like Hayes, O’Callaghan, O’Gara, Stringer, Horan, Wallace – guys you could name off by heart. Billy Holland has the right to be listed alongside those great names because he’s the picture of what it means to be a top professional. Remember, Holland didn’t really make his breakthrough as a regular starter until around 2014/15, despite being at the club since 2007. This is a guy who would not have been short of offers to go elsewhere but he stayed. We’re better off for it.
He trained alongside guys like O’Callaghan, O’Connell, O’Driscoll, Ryan, Leamy, Quinlan and Foley. He was the guy who came off the bench for years, he was the guy who started those manky test window games while the others were away. Holland was the glue guy who grew into the player he is now – an invaluable, highly experienced, highly motivated squad leader who embodies what this club is about. Hard work, discipline, perseverance, toughness, immaculatly prepared, quality; Billy Holland is all of these things because he has to be.
How many 6’3″ second rows do you know who’ve played at the top end of the club game in Europe for as long as Billy Holland has? In a position dominated by giants, Holland still thrives because he’s one of the fundamentally sound players you’ll see at any age, never mind at 35 years of age. This game was another example in the many dozens of relatively low key games that Holland has lead this team through with the quality, intelligence and well-balanced skillset that has become his trademark.
He’s Munster to the core and the type of guy that every top club needs to help stay a top club. 240 down and he’s not done yet – all hail the cap’, all hail the oldest dog on the hardest road, all hail Billy Holland.
The Wally Ratings: Edinburgh (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 |
|---|---|
| James Cronin | ★★★★ |
| Niall Scannell | ★★★★ |
| John Ryan | ★★★★ |
| Jean Kleyn | ★★★★ |
| Billy Holland | ★★★★ |
| Jack O'Donoghue | ★★★★ |
| Chris Cloete | ★★★★ |
| Gavin Coombes | ★★★★ |
| Craig Casey | ★★★★ |
| JJ Hanrahan | ★★★ |
| Shane Daly | ★★★★ |
| Damian De Allende | ★★★ |
| Chris Farrell | ★★★ |
| Andrew Conway | ★★ |
| Mike Haley | ★★★★ |
| Kevin O'Byrne | ★★★ |
| Jeremy Loughman | ★★ |
| Stephen Archer | ★★★ |
| Fineen Wycherley | ★★★ |
| Jack O'Sullivan | ★★★ |
| Nick McCarthy | ★★★ |
| Ben Healy | ★★★ |
| Rory Scannell | N/A |
