David Corkery: Munster got job done in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh but it was no hurling match...

You can say what you want, but there is no sport on this planet that can rival the kind of atmosphere that a good old hell for leather game of hurling can produce. 

What transpired on Saturday night in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh actually demonstrated this.

Maybe it was all the hype and razzamatazz that was created by the press and the various marketing teams involved with selling this fixture between Munster rugby and Gloucester had us believing that something extraordinary was going to manifest.

I doubt any of the 36,000-plus supporters who paid their hard-earned cash saw their heart rates rise much on Saturday night.

After last week’s discomforting and very worrying trashing at the hands of Bath, Munster could not have asked for a better game to dust themselves off and get the wheels rolling again. This was a Gloucester group that would struggle against any half-decent AIL side was exactly what the doctor ordered.

With only Newcastle beneath them in the English Gallagher PREM table, Gloucester have as much chance of winning this year’s Champions Cup as I do of winning the 100m in the 2028 summer Olympics.

If even for one minute the Gloucester coaching ticket thought they could do well in this competition, do you seriously think they would have handed 18-year-old Will Knight and his 21-year-old brother Max Knight Champions Cup debuts for this game? The only goal this Gloucester side have in their sights is to remain in the English top-flight.

The meetings that took place in the Munster camp in the build-up to this game were fairly blunt and honest so the minimum that was required from this Gloucester game was a bonus-point win.

Thankfully, this is exactly what Clayton McMillon and his charges took away from Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday, but I do think the win leaves us with more questions than we got answers.

To say that Munster were good value for their 31-3 victory against Gloucester would not be a true reflection of this game.

I would even go a bit further and suggest that the 80 minutes completely highlighted the deficiencies where Munster will struggle against many of the authentic contenders.

HARSH

This may seem a little bit harsh, but for the first 65 minutes of this European Cup tie Munster staggered and stuttered around the hallowed surface of Páirc Uí Chaoimh like a team with no idea about how to hammer home their overwhelming superiority.

The strong wind may have had a slight bearing on it, but if you look at the statistics, overwhelmingly weighted in Munster's favour, it is hard to imagine how Munster didn’t help themselves to a 50-point winning margin.

In the end, they managed to squeeze in three tries in the final 13 minutes, when Ruadhan Quinn, Tom Farrell and Tadhg Beirne all dotted down to shut the gates on this soulless and dull encounter.

For large periods of the game, the youthful visitors to Cork looked as if they would be happy to just defend for the rest of the tie and to make matters worse, Munster seemed equally content to go from side to side with no real purpose or plan.

BLUNT

So unthreatening were Gloucester’s attacking capabilities, I truly believe that if they were allowed 20 players and to use two balls, they still wouldn’t have been able to cross the Munster whitewash.

To be fair, the Munster lineout, both in attack and in defence worked well, but their scrum creaked and moaned and unless they can find a solution to fix this, the bigger teams will target it and use it as the catalyst to grind down the Munster pack.

Of the little ball he received in advantageous positions, winger Ben O’Connor looked very dangerous.

Even though he limped his way through the majority of the game, the former All-Ireland minor and U20 hurling winner was Munster’s best ticket when it came to breaking down Gloucester’s dogged defence. 

I’d like to think he will only get better as he clocks up his playing minutes.

Munster’s next European Cup game will now be in January of the new year, away to French goliaths RC Toulon. 

Without the ruthlessness that is needed to mix it with those who sit at the top table, their European escapades for this season will be over soon.