David Corkery on Munster Rugby: Good win but Reds still need to improve

A solid second-half performance and a good win, but consistency and continued improvement is now required.

In a game where the result could really have gone either way, thankfully it was Munster that made the most of the limited chances they created and at times showed the same kind of gritty resilience that has made the province such an iconic team on the European stage.

Any side that can keep a team with Saracens pedigree try-less over an 80-minute period is something that must be celebrated and despite producing a far from perfect performance, Munster should take much solus from their trench-warfare approach to defending their line.

Two hard-fought tries in the closing quarter of the game gave Ian Costello’s charges a much-needed boost and has thankfully secured them a last berth in this year’s Investec Champions Cup.

A win away next week to England’s Northampton Saints and who knows, Munster might even have a home tie in the last 16 knockout stages of the competition.

Prior to this tie commencing, Munster’s backs were nailed firmly to the wall after losing to Castres just before Christmas and this third match in the pool was really a do-or-die game for the men in red.

Labelled now by many as the team that like to make things difficult for themselves, Munster started the contest exactly where they left off in the Castres game by making a whole pile of handling errors thus allowing their visitors gain an early foothold on proceedings.

Yes, the night air in Limerick was misty, and the temperature wasn’t exactly tropical. However, there can be no excuses and the Munster players need to be far more accurate with every pass they make, every ball they look to catch and most importantly every play they look to execute.

If Saracens had been the team they were three seasons ago they would have happily lived off the Munster errors and the game would have been a foregone conclusion long before the second half commenced.

Normally, Mike Haley is the kind of player you could bank on to field everything that was entering his air space, but not on Saturday night.

To be fair, some of Saracens kick and chase game was very good and they put all three of Munster’s last line of defence under immense pressure, but I make no apologies in reiterating that at this level and against some of the better sides any mistakes will be ruthlessly exploited and Costello and his coaching staff must work on ways to dramatically reduce their sides overall error count.

If this Munster squad are going to have any hopes of making it beyond the first round of the knockout stages nothing less than a 70% reduction in their error tally will have to be achieved.

EXCESSIVE

That may sound excessive, but when you are making as many mistakes as Munster are, 70% is not that big a target. Alone in the first 20 minutes of this game, they made nine and after that, I just stopped counting.

With Saracens taking a 3-6 half-time lead back with them into the dressing room it was looking as if Mark McCall was going to guide his players to their first win against Munster on Irish soil, but thankfully the tide changed direction and Munster found a way to grind out a most valuable win.

Through their tenacious defence and a massive impact from the bench, Munster started to win the arm wrestle.

Two second-half tries scored in quick succession around the hour mark by prop Dian Bleuler and the brilliant John Hodnett gave Munster a firm hold on the scoreboard, but even at that the visitors could have still stolen the game in the dying minutes when Welsh international Liam Williams had the line at his mercy before uncharacteristically losing control of the ball.

At that point, the sigh of relief from the 16th man could be heard in counties Clare, Cork, Kerry and Tipp.

Jack Crowley successfully converted both of Munster’s tries, albeit, he will not be happy with his collective performance.

Maybe he is just lacking in a bit of confidence, or he is thinking too much of the now very real and present challenge thrown down by Leinster’s Sam Prendergast, but whatever it is he really needs to recapture the same kind of form that saw him take control of that now celebrated number 10 green jersey.

It would be a shame if Prendergast were to win the race without having earned it.

Of the Munster players who really impressed me, I must pay homage to Calvin Nash and replacement John Hodnett.

Nash just always seems to be in the right place at the right time and his work ethic is something that truly needs to be appreciated. 

As for Hodnett, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t capped in the Six Nations.

While the importance of this win cannot be underestimated, what’s more important now is that this group of players continue to improve.

How many times have we seen Munster blow hot and cold over the last 10 years?