The Southern Kings were poor here.
But don’t get it twisted up as to what happened in this game. The Kings showed up to play and worked smartly in the first half to frustrate Munster before a bonus point try right on the hooter kicked the life out of them. For all the talk of how bad they were, a very similar Kings side only lost 24-12 up in the Sportsground a few months ago so yes, they were poor, but they were made to look it by a Munster side that played as expansively and relentlessly as I’ve seen all season long. There won’t be any ticker-tape parades for putting away the team bottom of the conference but let me introduce you to a rugby truth – if you stick 10 tries and 68 points on a professional opponent, you’ve played very well, regardless of what you think of the opposition.
The key for me was pace.
Everything that Munster were looking to do with the ball in hand was fast and furious. If a lineout could be taken quickly, it would be. If a turnover could run up the field, it would be. That produced a few Munster errors at times – as you might expect after a long layoff combined with an expansive, high pace attack – but when it clicked, it consistently hurt the Kings.
Have a look at the pace and variation of this attacking sequence.
Multiple screens, fluidity between the forward’s roles in the attacking shape, multiple passes phase for phase and a high, relentless tempo. All of what you see in the above GIF happens inside 26 seconds and keeps the Kings defence in constant motion. In this instance, it produced an unbalanced primary defensive line that we were a hair away from executing.
In this instance, I think a pass to O’Donoghue might have been the optimal move given the layout of the Kings’ defensive line…
… but I can’t be mad at a player backing his skillset to fling a 30m pass off his left hand, especially when it puts a player like Calvin Nash in a position to make something happen.
We need to see more of this kind of thinking, not less. And that “thinking” was a clear factor in this game. We weren’t just looking to grind this up through the forwards.
Our second try came from a modified close range set where we ground around the corner after a 5m maul drive and then flung this reverse play with Goggin as the pivot to put Haley and Nash away into space for a lovely score.
We called this move in advance – maybe off the maul or mid-sequence once we had a penalty advantage – but there was a complexity to this scheme.
The whole thing was tilted to Posts Left as Goggin would have seen it once the ball came out of the last breakdown.
Once Goggin stepped to go back, the trap was already set. Wycherley, Cronin and O’Donoghue look like they’ve set to create a block so the Kings can’t cut off Haley and Nash through the middle.
Once Botha steps out of the passing line, it’s ready to go and we get Nash in a position to use his pace and agility to make something happen.
That wasn’t the end of the new thinking though. We used another reverse play to score the bonus point try. Watch Nash and O’Donoghue resetting before and after the ruck as this sequence progresses.
Look at John Ryan ducking on the openside to sell a pass he knows isn’t coming to the inside defenders. There’s a bit of luck with the bounce but that’s through whenever you kick the ball. This was a calculated scheme to clear a certain area of the pitch of backfield defenders with advanced chasers flooding into that exposed space.
This play targeted the full-back defending the backfield on the openside and standing him up to create an isolation that Hanrahan can attack by chipping over the line.
John Ryan’s effort helps to sell the scheme. But that wasn’t the first time that John Ryan was working hard off the ball.
Munster almost scored a try earlier in the game after Neil Cronin and Shane Daly combined for a break right up the side of the ruck.
It didn’t lead to a try but look at the surge coming from Daly, Scannell and Cronin as the scrumhalf breaks off the ruck. It’s a lovely move but look at John Ryan. Right before Cronin took the ball from the ruck and passed inside for Daly, John Ryan starts to set up a block lane for Daly to run through.
When Scannell and Cronin overload the outside defenders and Cronin engages the pillar defender, Daly has a clear lane to run at.
Cronin continues his run in support of Daly and helps create a great linebreak situation. I’d have liked a little more action from Scannell as he arrives at this ruck to keep the move going…
… but the link to Haley should have been better, from a pass and catch perspective.
The second half was a consistent illustration of Munster breaking the Kings in transition. Hodnett’s try came from a kick through ran back by Haley, Shane Daly’s try was engineered in the phases following a run back from another loose kick.
Goggin’s kick through was outstanding and Daly’s chase was rewarded by some sloppy work by the Kings backfield but at this stage, we’d run the Kings off their feet.
We were running high-quality support lines, throwing offloads and we were a pass or two away from cracking 80 or more.
That, you feel, will come with time.
What I saw from Munster here was hugely encouraging and it hints at what we might well look like down the line with more time on the training pitch, more reviews and more cohesion week to week.
The high-tempo, ambition, position fluidity and variety Munster displayed was exactly what you’d look for against weaker opposition. We’ll face stiffer tests this season for certain and there are absolutely a few work-ons to take away from the game – some of our finesse passing, a few lineout flubs – but the manner that we took apart this Southern Kings outfit was hugely entertaining to watch.
The Wally Ratings: Southern Kings (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 | ★★★ |
| John Ryan | ★★★★ |
| Fineen Wycherley | ★★★★ |
| Billy Holland | ★★★★ |
| Jack O'Donoghue | ★★★ |
| John Hodnett | ★★★★★ |
| Arno Botha | ★★★★★ |
| Neil Cronin | ★★★ |
| JJ Hanrahan | ★★★★ |
| Shane Daly | ★★★★ |
| Dan Goggin | ★★★★★ |
| Chris Farrell | ★★★ |
| Calvin Nash | ★★★★ |
| Mike Haley | ★★★★ |
| Kevin O'Byrne | ★★★ |
| Jeremy Loughman | ★★★ |
| Keynan Knox | ★★★ |
| Gavin Coombes | ★★★★ |
| Chris Cloete | ★★★ |
| Nick McCarthy | ★★★ |
| Ben Healy | ★★★★ |
| Rory Scannell | ★★★ |
Notable Players
There were no poor performers here. Some had more prominent games than others but this was a pretty comprehensive display from 1 to 23.
I was really impressed with Mike Haley, Shane Daly and Calvin Nash. I felt they really contributed an awful lot, especially on kick transition, and the two younger players definitely put some big moments in the bank for further representation.
Gavin Coombes had a really strong impact off the bench for me and brought an immediate physical impact with ball in hand, which is exactly what you’d want from him.
Hugely encouraging stuff.
Arno Botha scored a hat-trick, which is always a good start for a five-star rating but he backed it up with consistent top-end physicality all through the attacking line and in defence. He’s been a really good signing for Munster over the last 24 months and this game is a good illustration of how valuable he’s been. Quality. ★★★★★
Dan Goggin could easily have been man of the match on the night, that’s how good he was here. This is probably the most complete performance I’ve seen from Goggin this season. He was impactful in defence, powerful with the ball in hand but he really impressed me with his range of passing, kicking and all-round creative play. We’ll put it like this, even with the context of weak opposition, this was the most rounded and effective performance I’ve seen from a Munster #12 this season. Impressive.★★★★★
Debuts don’t come much better than the one that John Hodnett put in here. After six minutes, he’d already managed to display the aggressive ball-carrying that was a hallmark of his work with the Irish u20s, Munster A and UCC.
He raided the wider areas and the halfspaces on transition to devastating effect and always looked on the verge of producing something. The above GIF lead directly to Munster’s first try and a yellow card for the Kings but look at it in isolation. The calm handling, the shrugging off of the second row trying to tackle him and the raw acceleration as he shot for the line – this is all top drawer stuff.
His tracking, power hand off and lethal finish for his own try in the second half nearly lifted the roof off the place and was richly deserved based on how active Hodnett had been up until that point.
A lot of young players, forwards especially, can take time to grow into the game but Hodnett wasn’t waiting around. It wasn’t all ball carrying either. He showed up again and again in defence, won a breakdown turnover…
… and looked the real deal from the minute he ran onto the pitch. He’ll have tougher days, for sure, but John Hodnett had the bang of a lad destined for very big things. Hugely, hugely impressive. ★★★★★
