Munster backs coach Mike Prendergast spoke about the frustration of opportunities that went abegging at Croke Park last week from the province’s Cape Town base where they will face the Stormers on Saturday afternoon.
There were aspects of the 26-12 defeat to Leinster where he felt Munster could have been better while acknowledging that they occasionally didn’t get the rub of the green.
Prendergast said: “When you peel it back and dissect the game, [we] scored two tries to a potential disallowed try that wasn’t looked at, and then two 2v1s, four or five metres from the line that you have to take against the best teams, and Leinster being the best team.”
“We would have spoken about it, when you do break them, which I felt we did on a couple of occasions, especially in the second half, we got in behind them. They are a very good team for creating another ruck, that’s where they come in and come up with a big play to stop you.”
Prendergast lamented a lack of “that killer instinct” at times. While pointing out the officiating mistake when Munster were wrongly reduced to 14 players, an error that URC acknowledged in the aftermath, he also accepted that Leinster had taken their scoring chances and that his team had not.
He continued: “It’s something we’ve spoken about. It caught us against Glasgow in the semi-final last year. You’ve an awful lot to do to get in behind good defences like that and it’s about the ability of pulling the trigger and being calm.
“I know from the outside when you look at the performance and the scoreline for the majority of the game it looks different from what it was. When you strip it back and look at those occasions, you’ve got to be taking them at high-level rugby. Against a team like Leinster, you just got to be taking them.”
Meanwhile Stormers flyer Leolin Zas is keen to put a disappointing three-match URC tour to Europe behind him in advance of Saturday’s first home game of the season against Munster.
The South African side lost 37-24 at the Ospreys, beat Zebre 36-5 at the Stadio Lanfranchi before losing out 38-7 last weekend in Edinburgh. Zas, who scored two tries against the Italian side admitted: “We’ve been here before. Over the last two seasons we have bounced back, after losing four games in a row last season and only getting one win on tour in the first season.”
Saturday will be a repeat of the thrilling 2022-23 URC final between the teams in the shadow of Table Mountain, Munster racking up a famous victory. Zas said: “The guys are very calm. We aren’t living in the past. What has happened has happened. We are just focusing on Saturday. It was a tough loss against Edinburgh, but we are up for this game.”
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