Although this 16-15 URC semi-final win over Leinster was without doubt the biggest of his first campaign as Munster head coach, Graham Rowntree endeavoured to keep any sense of elation in check. In addition to the performance having its flaws, Rowntree and his squad will only be sated if they beat the Stormers in the final in Cape Town in a fortnight.
“Not perfect, not perfect,” was his initial judgment on Munster’s display, particularly with regard to the innumerable times they came away from the Leinster 22 without reward.
“We’ve got to be more clinical. We spoke about it at half-time, we needed to be more clinical near the opposition try-line.
“This is a very good team, regardless of whoever they have out on the field,” Rowntree added of Leinster. “A very good team. So, we weren’t perfect, but I’m delighted with the fight and the spirit.
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“We’re in a final, lads. I said to the group in the week, 25 days ago, we were paranoid about European qualification. Now we are in a semi, now we are in a final.
“Our game is still growing. We are finding out about people. Pete [O’Mahony] spoke really well in the dressingroom about this not being our final tonight. We go down to Cape Town with belief.”
They will be glad of a week’s respite before a third trek to South Africa in eight weeks. This was Munster’s fifth away game in succession, three of them in South Africa, but just when it appeared that their exertions might be taking a toll, they dug deep to attack from their own line and conjure the opportunity for Jack Crowley to nail the match-winning 78th-minute drop goal.
“This group don’t give in and we have come through some fires in the last few weeks,” said Rowntree. “We go to Cape Town and it will be our sixth away game on the bounce, and that’s when we are finding out about people. We are tough, battle-hardened, so I was never hopeless. This team don’t go away.”
As to what winning a first trophy since the 2011 Magners League final would mean, Rowntree said: “I have seen tangible improvements in our game. I saw that when results weren’t going our way back in the autumn. I had full belief in what I had seen being done in training and the connection the lads had with the coaches.
“We are here to win, aren’t we, in this sport. And to get to this far, and to get to a final, we will be gunning for it.”
Leo Cullen admitted that his team lacked cohesion after they made another seven changes to their starting XV from the quarter-final win over the Sharks.
“With the team that we have, yeah, for sure. We had guys coming back in at this stage of the year as well and that’s the challenge for us.
“Yeah, it didn’t quite go our way. We were very close to it, very close to closing out the game. It’s disappointing we weren’t quite able to do that but again you have to give credit to Munster.
“There’s two teams fighting right to the very end, they nail their opportunity at the death and we don’t get another chance. We were very, very close to winning a semi-final. Unfortunately, not today.
“Again, back to that cohesion part. They had a more settled group there today and that’s a call that we made and we have to accept the consequences of that now. Munster look strong but we fight our way back in and repel and repel them on numerous occasions so the fight among the lads is great.
“You couldn’t fault them for a second and Joe McCarthy comes off the bench and scores a great try. We had a couple of more opportunities and were very close. We got the ball reefed out around the try line or get barged off the breakdown near the try line a few times.
“When you’re in semi-finals and finals you need to be able to nail your opportunities and we weren’t quite good enough today. Munster, you could see what it meant to them at the end. It was always going to be a very tight game and we just weren’t quite good enough today.”
