Graham Rowntree calls for improvement from ‘disjointed’ Munster

David Skippers 17 Feb 2024 12:15 PM

Although he was pleased that his side sealed a convincing 42-7 away victory over the Scarlets on Friday, Munster head coach Graham Rowntree believes there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Rowntree admitted that he was far from happy with his side’s performance at half-time – when they held a 14-0 lead – and became concerned when the hosts narrowed the gap early in the second period when Joe Roberts tore Munster’s defence to shreds en route to scoring their only try.

Comfortable win in the end

Despite that crossing, the Munstermen did not panic and eventually cruised to a comfortable win which saw them outscore Scarlets by six tries to one.

“I’m pleased with the scoreline, but we were a bit disjointed. I wasn’t very happy at half time after a bright start,” said Rowntree after the match.

“We lost our way a bit and we tried to be a bit too fancy in the second quarter. Half time was about sticking to the process and the plan, but we were a bit disjointed in the third quarter.

“The Scarlets were really tenacious in the defence of their goal line for huge periods. So much so, at times I wondered how many players we were playing against.”

Despite their excellent defensive effort, the home side could not maintain that high standard for the full 80 minutes and Munster took control of proceedings in the final quarter, when they were rewarded with four unanswered tries.

“We eventually broke the door down in the final quarter. We haven’t won on the road enough this season, although we had a famous away European win in Toulon,” added Rowntree.

“We haven’t done it enough in the URC and that’s a big target for us. This game was all about gaining momentum.

“We have a five-game run now. We have a friendly against Harlequins next week, which I asked for, and then we go into a huge block of three URC games which we need to use to get us up the league.

‘All about regaining that momentum’

“We demonstrated last year what we can do on the road with our late run, so tonight was all about regaining that momentum. The scoreboard tonight belies the tenacity of the Scarlets.

“I think a few too many players thought it was going to be easy after those two early tries. You’ve got to go through them first – so there is plenty to work on.”

Munster Graham Rowntree