IT wasn’t all doom and gloom yet it wasn’t that far off it either.

As Graham Rowntree and his coaching staff sat looking down on the ragged surface of the stadium in Durban, I think the true size of the rebuilding task became crystal clear to them.

As fully expected, it was hot and humid but there were times in this game when Munster looked like a side that had no other game-plan outside of passing from player to player and just hoping for the best. Apart from Munster’s inaccuracy, there was also a massive gap in power; this is the most worrying aspect of Munster’s inadequacies.

When you see the Munster forwards constantly getting sat back on their backsides, you just know it's going to be a very long day in the office. Munster’s inability to fortify any kind of quality ball at the breakdown became the catalyst for the South African powerhouses to force errors.

The home side started with a penalty but it was Munster that dotted down for the first try when the ever-lively Shane Daly danced his way through a few poor tackles and gave his side a serious shot of adrenalin. However, as the first half clock ticked forward there were some very serious warning signs.

The shallowness of Munster’s front row became apparent very early on and it was obvious that Munster were going to struggle at scrum time.

How John Ryan was allowed to leave the province to play his rugby in New Zealand is something of a joke; Roman Salanoa simply can't fill his boots.

I fully realise that scrums are becoming a rarity in the modern game but if you don’t have a platform to safely deliver, you will always find yourself giving away penalties thus relinquishing the very hard yards you had just ground out.

Craig Casey, selected ahead of Conor Murray, was never allowed to play the kind of game that has thrust him up through the pecking order in Irish rugby.

Casey, whose entire game is built around distributing lightning-quick ball to his first receivers, was nullified by the Sharks backrow who were present at every breakdown long before Peter O'Mahony, John Hodnett or Gavin Coombes turned up.

Munster finished the first half trailing by just three points 17-14. You just knew deep down that the dam was on the verge of bursting and as soon as the second half commenced the hairline cracks soon became unrepairable. Boeta Chamberlain, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Makazola Mapimp, and particularly Werner Kok poured through and made the game a forgone conclusion with 25 minutes remaining.

Trailing by 22 points on the 55-minute mark, Munster had no choice but to throw caution to the wind and while they did manage to score a few nice tries, the Sharks ended up scoring 50. 

If you add that tally to Munster’s previous two games you get a defensive structure that has conceded 130 points. That’s an average of just under 44 points a game. 

If for one moment you think that is good enough to win silverware may I suggest you consider following another brand of sport where participation is the only thing that matters!

IMPRESSIVE

Even though there is very little to celebrate when you are knocked out of the Champions Cup I do think that the performance from Calvin Nash needs to be recognised and I think it won’t be too long before we see his name appear on Andy Farrell's squad list.

The other pleasing aspect of this game was that RG Snyman had a good game and hopefully it won’t be too long before we see him regain his full match fitness.

At the moment Munster seem to be taking one step forward followed by one step back and their progress under the Rowntree era has somewhat stagnated.

Unless something biblical happens over the next few weeks, Munster will have put down their fourteenth season without having to open the trophy cabinet other than to have cleared out the cobwebs and the longer this trend continues, the harder it will be to halt the rot.

I’d really like to be positive about where Munster are going, but when you are conceding 44 points per game, it's incredibly hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.