Munster v Connacht: Five takeaways as another ‘nearly’ Lancaster effort falls short of exposing home team ‘sloppiness’

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Munster v Connacht: Five takeaways as another 'nearly' Lancaster effort falls short of exposing home team 'sloppiness'

Munster's Jack O'Donoghue and, inset, Connacht boss Stuart Lancaster

Here are our five takeaways from Thomond Park following a 17-15 win for Munster over Connacht in Saturday night’s United Rugby Championship fixture.

The top line

Fresh from a statement win at Leinster, unbeaten Munster extended their winning start to the URC season by adding Connacht to their list of victims. However, in sharp contrast to last weekend’s thrilling exploits, which will live long in the memory, this follow-up Round Five performance left much to be desired.

A low-quality match was stunted throughout by multiple errors and poor tactical kicking by both teams – even the level of place kicking stank as four different players missed five of the six attempted conversions.

The slow-starting match did briefly ignite in the 15th minute when a multi-pass Munster move, a surge that began from their own 10-metre line after the visitors failed to find touch with a penalty clearance, ended with Alex Nankivell giving the assist to Jack O’Donoghue.

That concession so infuriated Connacht that they were back on terms within four minutes, a beautiful offload from Josh Ioane the highlight of an attack finished by Byron Ralston. This same 10-14 combination struck again on 28 minutes, this time a long, looping pass from Ioane finding Ralston all on his own out wide for a simple run-in.

Ioane’s problem, though, was that he then got too sure of himself as an ill-advised pass towards Harry West, the debut-making full-back, was neatly picked off by Diarmuid Kilgallen, who raced all the way to the line for the try that JJ Hanrahan converted for a 12-10 lead.

That advantage was awkwardly scrubbed out with the clock in the red. A seemingly inconclusive TMO review somehow overturned the original held-up decision of referee Andrea Piardi to give Paul Boyle a try and Connacht a 15-12 interval lead.

What followed on the resumption was Munster dominance of possession that was frustratingly lacking in any real penetration until the 68th minute when a pick-and-drive avalanche on penalty advantage ended with O’Donoghue burrowing over his second try.

It wasn’t pretty, but it just about got the job done for the unconvincing home side.

Munster sloppiness

The intrigue coming into this Irish derby was how Munster would follow up last weekend’s firework performance in Dublin back on their home patch in Limerick.

Tadhg Beirne and Jack Crowley were the leading kryptonite that sickened the usual Superman Leinster, but with that duo now in Chicago preparing with Ireland to face the All Blacks on November 1, could Clayton McMillan’s team produce a similarly high-pitched display?

They couldn’t. Whereas Crowley’s kicking was exquisite in unlocking Leinster, Hanrahan’s was ropey behind a pack that didn’t really dominate the collision in the way that Beirne led the charge seven days earlier.

An example of Hanrahan’s issues was the 54th-minute high-risk kick that was charged down and, if the bounce had been kinder, could have resulted in a breakaway Connacht try. That was sloppy decision-making in keeping with a night of general sloppiness.

Gavin Coombes was admittedly decent in the Munster pack, and O’Donoghue deserves kudos for his crucial two-try contribution, but collectively the whole thing was rather disappointing given the heady levels produced at Leinster.

Another ‘nearly’ Lancaster outcome

Stuart Lancaster has a ‘nearly man’ reputation as a coach. Save for the exemplary 2017/18 season when Leinster stormed to a Champions Cup/PRO14 double, the Englishman’s coaching career has been marked by multiple near misses and disappointments with England and Racing, either side of a Leinster stint that should have delivered more trophies than it did.

Could it be that a similar pattern is unfolding at Connacht? As a coach with a bulging CV for developing young players, his appointment at the Irish province was seen as a coup and he will definitely make their promising youngsters much better in the long run.

Turning individual potential into team wins, though, is the balancing act that Lancaster has struggled with before, and it has now dogged his early months with Connacht. Having opened the season with a win over Benetton, this defeat to Munster was their third loss on the bounce.

Six, one and two points have been the level of defeat, so the margins are small. But they are the type of losses in keeping with the trend across Lancaster’s career.

There were parts to Connacht’s game in Limerick that were good, namely their defence and the display of the returning Boyle. But errors such as Ioane’s intercepted pass and missed conversions were wounding.

They are the sort of frustrations that must be stamped out if Lancaster’s Connacht are to progress and turn annoying losses into inspiring wins.

Munster’s set-piece

It was curious how the one aspect of Munster’s performance at Leinster that caused much aggravation – their penalty-leaking scrum – was much improved against Connacht, but at the expense of a lineout that stubbornly left them down.

Lee Barron endured a shaky time with some of his lineout play and after his replacement Niall Scannell arrived in the 56th minute, his first throw from a promising attacking position was stolen to leave Munster at that juncture nine throws from 12 while Connacht were nine from nine.

In contrast, the Munster scrum benefited from a week on the training ground. There was a penalty win by Michael Milne on 38 minutes, and there was no problem until the 72nd minute concession of a free to Connacht.

By that stage, the front rows were much changed and they received a talking to from the referee a few minutes later for being ‘too messy’.

The match wound down, though, with Munster winning a 78th-minute penalty, a good redemption for them in an area where they were much criticised at Croke Park.

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Another “divides opinion” Piardi moment

It was just a few weeks ago when we reported on Planet Rugby about how a referee who “divides opinion” would be on the whistle for England versus New Zealand on November 15.

Ref Piardi is definitely an official who comes with talking points. Last time he was in Limerick, he was complaining that rugby was a sport that had too many laws after his gaffe against the Bulls resulted in a losing Munster incorrectly having to sacrifice a player due to the referee’s incorrect application of the uncontested scrums law when a concussion is involved.

Saturday night’s latest talking point involving the Italian referee centred on the awarding of a try to Connacht on the stroke of half-time, despite the TMO not showing conclusive proof that the scorer, Boyle actually scored.

Piardi had originally given a held-up decision, but he was swayed by the input of TMO Matteo Liperini, his fellow Italian, even though the reviewed footage suggested Boyle had been held short by a staunch Munster defence led by Milne.

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