Munster were soundly beaten on Saturday by the Sharks who by winning on Saturday won only their 5th game of the season.
In those 13 games they have faced South African sides on multiply occasions. The Sharks dominated the set piece both scrum and line out and although a few calls at scrum time in particular could have gone either way, for the most part the Sharks were full value for the win.
Yet another campaign is threating to be derailed for Munster who will need a huge showing next Saturday in the 12pm kick off against the Bulls in Pretoria.
This season started with such promise where Munster won their opening 5 games and even though one or two of those results were very close on the score board it did look as though Munster had turned a corner but since the Argentina game back in November things have gone very stale.
They have slipped down the table in the URC and performances have gone by the wayside and it will need another trademark strong finish to the year to get into the last 8 of the URC not withstanding a very tricky away last 16 Challenge Cup game vs Exeter.
Clayton Mc Millian now knows what is required and yes he took the job on for 3 years but the level of performance has just fallen off a cliff edge in recent months. Yes the Sharks were far better in the set piece on Saturday but I didn’t see Munster trying to problem solve on the field and use the “smarts” we hear so often about.
Some of the handling and work at the line out was very abject and again begs the question what is happening on the training pitch. There was a delay in leaving Ireland but that happens on a daily basis and can’t be the sole reason for the showing.
Yet again, we see a Munster coach bemoaning a poor display and apologising to supporters and promising a better showing next time out, time for that crap to stop and get back to basics on the training pitch.
Some of the calling at the line out on Saturday was so poor that the Sharks could easily mark where the ball was going to end up and get there to sniff out any chance of a Munster attack.
Some bright sparks on the day when there was very little to make you think that Munster will be challenging at the end of the season for the 2 trophies they are still in contention for.
Sean Edogbo was a good addition and could see more game time before the end of the campaign, some of the work by John Hodnett at the breakdown at least gave Munster some small hope. The pressure that the Sharks exerted on Munster made it so difficult for Munster to gain any real momentum and when they had some possession they knocked balls on with regularity and that in turn stalled any momentum.
The recurring theme for Munster in recent years has been inconsistent performances and having to dig it out at the tail end of a campaign, this looks very certain to be the case again this year but Munster could possibly see themselves squeezed out of the top 8 and it will take a number of wins to help them secure a top 8 finish, starting on Saturday against the Bulls.
They will welcome back there Irish contingent for the game and that should help the level of performance also but it can’t just be down to those players to help lift the level of performance needed for the rest of the year.
The backs are to the wall yet again for Munster and while the expectation will be they will rise to the challenge and find a way to get the wins needed to secure URC knock out rugby at the very least will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks.
First up it’s the Bulls on Saturday in Pretoria and then its Exeter away so the tough fixtures keep coming for Munster. Here is the 23 I would pick to face the Bulls –
15 Shane Daly
14 Calvin Nash
13 Dan Kelly
12 Alex Nankivell
11 Sean O Brien
10 Jack Crowley
9 Craig Casey
8 Gavin Coombes
7 John Hodnett
6 Sean Edogbo
5 Edwin Edgobo
4 Jean Kleyn
3 John Ryan
2 Lee Barron
1 Michael Milne
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16 Niall Scannell
17 Jeremey Loughman
18 Micheal Alalatoa
19 Fineen Wycherley
20 Tom Ahern
21 Ethan Coughlan
22 JJ Hanrahan
23 Tom Farrell