Clayton McMillan identifies root cause of Munster’s ‘high stakes’ Connacht defeat
Munster players form a huddle and head coach Clayton McMillan (inset).
Munster head coach Clayton McMillan identified his side’s shortage of ‘starch’ in the physicality stakes as a key reason for their loss to Connacht at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway on Saturday.
Connacht dominated from the outset and clinched a 26-7 bonus-point victory with Ben Murphy, Shayne Bolton, Shamus Hurley-Langton and Sean Jansen crossing for tries for the hosts while Craig Casey scored Munster’s only five-pointer.
Still not certain of a play-off spot
Munster were hoping to secure their play-off berth with a win, but their loss means they drop down to sixth position in the United Rugby Championship standings with 51 points amassed from 17 matches played.
Meanwhile, Connacht, who occupy ninth position in the table, still have a chance of reaching the last eight as they have 49 points after also completing 17 matches.
McMillan couldn’t hide his disappointment but did not mince his words when asked for his thoughts on his side’s performance.
“Got beaten by a better team on the night,” he said after the match. “Always knew it was going to be tough coming here, a tough team to play at home on a decent roll over the last couple of months.
“You can see their confidence in their game and they were high stakes, you know, win and we were in, and lose they were out.
“We challenged our guys to make sure their motivation wasn’t any stronger than ours but it was, because you see that in the collisions.
“I thought they had a little bit more starch in their collisions than we did and that allowed them to play on the front foot and it’s the sort of game that serves the rest of their game well. So, we applaud them for that.”
Disallowed try hurt Munster
Although the home side held the upper hand for long periods, McMillan feels a disallowed try from Alex Kendellen – for a borderline handling error – early in the second half, was a crucial moment in the grander scheme of things.
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“It wasn’t like there was bad stuff out there, we just didn’t see enough of it,” he said.
“Obviously put ourselves in a little bit of a hole in the first half with a little bit of wind at our back, we didn’t utilise that too well. And then in the second half, for a long period of time, it was a bit of an arm wrestle.
“It was a bit of a shame that Alex Kendellen’s try was ruled out. I think that might have just pushed us a little bit closer and put a bit of wind in our sails.
“But when those things go against you, it actually puts a bit of wind in their sails. But there was a fight there that we can build off.”
McMillan expanded on his side’s disallowed five-pointer by saying: “We don’t have all of the views that obviously the TMO has a look at, but from all the views I had, I couldn’t see any separation.”
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