Munster head coach Ian Costello applauded his team’s grit and dogged determination to stick to a plan as central tenets in their 17-12 win over Saracens in the Champions Cup match at Thomond Park.
“I think we stayed really true to what we said we would do, and at times we have gone a little bit away from that at key moments under pressure. We went 6-0 down, we were disappointed with two poor penalties, but the lads stayed really calm.
“I thought we were unlucky in the first half not to score that maul up in the top left, we probably felt like we deserved that but we came in 6-3 down, and everyone was really calm at half-time.
“We focused on two things: outworking them and having to win the physical battle, and we set ourselves up to do that. Everything we did for the last 10 days has been about that challenge, and we made sure that lads were incredibly fresh, and we had huge energy from the bench to really finish strong. I thought that paid off tonight.”
The impact from the bench, led by try scorer John Hodnett was significant in that end game. Costello said: “The beauty of it is, since the last time we sat here (after Leinster defeat), we got five players back and there’s a huge amount of leadership in that group as well if you work through them – [Diarmuid] Barron, the two Jacks [Crowley and O’Donoghue] and Diarmuid Kilgallen, who is back but wasn’t selected. He will come into the mix over the next few weeks.
“That made a huge difference for the likes of Tadhg (Beirne) and in key moments we could feel that the team were really in control, really calm, and decisive around what we were trying to do, especially when we made a few mistakes.
“Aerially, I thought we were beaten tonight, which is really unlike us, and we fumbled a few balls in the backfield when they kicked along the ground. They have an outstanding kicking game but again, staying calm through that and staying on task and on plan.”
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