Munster v Gloucester: Five takeaways as flattering scoreline leaves Irish giants with ‘more questions’ while ‘thuggish hit’ lightly punished
Munster's Mike Haley celebrates scoring a try with Shane Daly and Dan Kelly and an inset of Gloucester's Jamal Ford-Robinson. Credit INPHO/Billy Stickland/EPCR Rugby.
Following Munster’s 31-3 victory over Gloucester at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the Investec Champions Cup, here are our five takeaways.
Top line
Munster bounced back from their humbling at the hands of Bath in round one of the tournament, scoring five tries to down PREM Rugby strugglers Gloucester in what was an atrocious affair.
The margin of victory certainly flattered the hosts, who led 7-3 at half-time courtesy of a Dan Kelly try in the 20th minute, which Jack Crowley converted.
The Irish giants struggled to break down a dogged defensive effort from the Cherry and Whites, who held firm until the 49th minute when Mike Haley crossed for Munster’s long-awaited second try.
But eventually the pressure told as the hosts grabbed three tries in the final 13 minutes, through Ruadhan Quinn, Tom Farrell and Tadhg Beirne, to bloat the scoreline and seal a bonus point-victory which put them in the running for a play-off spot in Pool 3.
Mind-numbing shot and decision
Only Jamal Ford-Robinson knows what he was thinking when he hammered into Jack Crowley’s head with the fly-half hardly threatening a turnover at the ruck in the 31st minute.
And only the referee Ben Breakspear, TMO Aled Griffiths and the rest of the officiating team know how that action warranted a yellow card.
Ford-Robinson came from a distance, had plenty of time to adjust his height or even abandon his clear-out on the Irishman, but let his urges take over with the prop getting a rare opportunity to hammer a prone half-back.
Somehow, the officials found mitigation to avoid issuing the Gloucester fan favourite’s actions down from a red card to a yellow, perhaps fearing the backlash that would follow.
It was a thuggish hit, and one that would surely be upgraded to a 20-minute red card by a Foul Play Review Officer had the TMO Bunker been in place for the Champions Cup pool stages.
World Rugby continues to entertain the idea that red cards ruin matches, and as long as they maintain that view, the more puzzling decisions like this will be reached, as officials fear that they will be blamed for spoiling the spectacle, which the respective teams did a good job of themselves today.
The impact of wholesale changes
A common theme of the team announcements for round two of the Champions Cup was the sheer number of changes in the matchday 23s across the board, and Munster v Gloucester was no exception.
Munster, coming off the back of a humbling at the Rec, made nine personnel changes and three positional switches, while the visitors changed their entire starting lineup.
The structure of the tournament affords teams the luxury of targeting certain fixtures, and these two clubs exploited that with Gloucester rotating after thrashing Castres while Munster were reeling after the defeat to Bath.
This created the perfect storm for a frankly awful game for the most part. Munster lacked cohesion as they struggled to launch from their set-pieces, and the weather only rubbed salt in their wounds.
A plethora of handling errors from usually skilful players only made matters worse as they surrendered threatening possession after threatening possession. Irish scrums have struggled for the most part in times, and those issues plagued Munster again despite the presence of Samoan international Michael Ala’alatoa.
For Gloucester, the far less fancied side today, the wholesale changes gave so many the opportunity to press their claim for further involvement this season, and many did just that.
Gloucester B gives Skivington food for thought
This leaves Gloucester boss George Skivington with a healthy selection headache for the final games of the year and the start of next.
The Cherry and Whites have endured a truly horrific start to the new season, winning just one of their opening six PREM Rugby matches, but the November international break has worked wonders for the club. The Castres result paved the way for this to be a free hit, and so many of the ‘B team’ players threw their hands up.
Stand-in skipper Arthur Clark was phenomenal across the board, relentlessly chopping down Munster carriers while causing havoc for the Irish side at lineout time.
George Barton was hugely influential in the opening hour of the game, but did fade off somewhat with Munster’s aerial assault. Still, his performance gives Skivington something to think about in the full-back position, with Charlie Atkinson dominating that jersey at the start of the campaign.
Jack Clement shone with ball in hand on his return from injury and managed a turnover; in fact, the entire back-rower battle away manfully, while scrum-half Mike Austin deserves massive credit for his efforts.
The scoreboard bloated in the latter stages of the game, but for the most part, this young Gloucester outfit stuck in the fight and traded blow for blow.
Momentum swing or a sign of what’s to come for Munster?
After going five from five to start the United Rugby Championship season, Munster hit a speedbump on their return to action, falling to their maiden defeat under new head coach Clayton McMillan to the Stormers.
The proud club were then embarrassed and utterly dominated by Bath last week, which sounded off the alarm bells. Last week, they looked rudderless and like a team struggling for confidence.
Munster love a Champions Cup fixture, particularly at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and this match gave the side the opportunity to lay down a marker, and while on paper a 31-3 victory looks great, it was certainly a flattering scoreline and begs the question: are Munster back on track or is this another sign of a decline?
Frankly, it’s hard to tell. It was nigh-on impossible for the side to produce a performance that would wipe away the memory of the Rec in round one, but perhaps the hard-fought nature in which they won at the home of Cork GAA will galvanise the team.
On the other hand, it was another performance where the cohesion was simply not there, and the accuracy was lacking.
Ultimately, it’s a result that has produced more questions than answers.