'A step forward but plenty to go' as Munster continue resurgence

They remain far from the finished article yet will travel to southern France to face Castres on Friday night with spirits high and performances improving week on week.

Saturday’s bonus-point victory at Thomond Park saw Munster do mostly everything asked of them by interim head coach Ian Costello, whose temporary charge has seen his squad score back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

Stade Francais did their utmost to accommodate the home side’s feelgood vibes, both their locks earning red cards within four minutes of each other early in the second half, but Munster were nonetheless good value for their five tries to one Champions Cup pool victory, a week on from returning to winning ways in the URC with a 17-10 win over an in-form Lions side.

Man of the match Thaakir Abrahams and full-back Shane Daly had helped the Reds to a 14-0 half-time lead with the stiff wind at their backs in this opening-round pool encounter before the dismissals of second rows Pierre-Henri Azagoh and Baptiste Pesenti between minutes 48 and 52 were further punished by tries from Alex Kendellen and Tom Farrell in the 50th and 55th.

With the valuable try bonus bagged in the third quarter Munster suffered a wayward 20 minutes that cost them their clean sheet when prop Clement Castets exposed some sleepy lineout defending on 58 minutes but Munster regained the initiative sufficiently to close out in style through Gavin Coombes two minutes from time, Jack Crowley having converted four of his five kicks at goal.

Very much a move in the right direction before a return to Stade Pierre Fabre to face a Castres side beaten 38-8 at Northampton Saints on Saturday afternoon.

“It was a step forward,” Costello said. “A step forward around pace, I think our set-piece went up a notch as well, we got a lot of turnovers, including a few choke tackles which was ironic because it was something we focused on them being very good at. So yeah, a step forward but plenty to go.”

Costello wants to see improvement on both sides of the ball during a shortened training window this week before departing for France but defensively, there was really only one lapse, the Stade try coming after an interchange between hooker and prop at the front of a lineout, the latter, Castets, clattering over from 10 metres out.

“We made a pretty basic mistake at the front of the lineout when we went too far back at the lineout and they took a quick one at the front. That was disappointing because it was really just about being on it all the time.

"But the core elements of our defence, the hunger, our desire, our intent, our chop? Tackle, what Leams (defence coach Denis Leamy) would call our bounce, which is the energy that we give people around us.

“Peter (O’Mahony) talked during the week about how we make people feel defensively and I think if you were wearing a red shirt tonight you made 14 others feel really good about that performance.” 

 Offensively, Munster were also sharp though Costello would have been happier if the conversion rate from five metres out was more clinical.

“We don't get too caught up in stats, but good data mixed with your own kind of feel for the game is pretty powerful, and Mikey (Prendergast, attack coach) would have had a strong sense that we were getting into that area of the field a lot and that was backed up, we're in the top couple in the league.

"But then conversely, our conversion rate isn't where we'd expect. So that has been a focus and it will continue to be a focus. I think we convert two or three of those and that's a completely different game in terms of the arm wrestle.”

Yet when Munster managed to finish, they did it very well and the pick of the bunch came when they were down a player following Alex Nankivell’s yellow card on 25 minutes.

Abrahams, who had opened the scoring on 15 minutes, was the spark, his diminuitive frame springing to take a Craig Casey box kick from under the nose of taller opposite wing Charles Laloi on the left. 

Munster moved the ball across the width of the field before the ubiquitous Casey provided the long pass out to Shane Daly on the right.

Still on Munster’s 10-metre line, the full-back advanced to halfway, kicked over Zack Henry’s head and burned the turning fly-half for pace to sprint to the edge of the 22 where he defly chipped full-back Joe Jonas to mark his 100th appearance with a 25th try.

Quite the night for the 27-year-old Corkman, who rightly earned Costello’s praise.

“It was a big week for Shane. He's such an important player and person in our squad and you know, he was the (URC) Ironman last year in terms of the minutes played and he's been a bit frustrated at the start of this season.

“He's had a few injuries but he epitomises everything good about this club. He's such a good professional. He's such a good person and he makes everyone around him better and I’m delighted that we could acknowledge that with a quality performance and a win tonight."

MUNSTER: S Daly (C Casey 77 – HIA) ; C Nash (B Burns, 12-25 - HIA), T Farrell, A Nankivell, T Abrahams (B Burns, 70); J Crowley, C Casey (P Patterson, 60); D Bleuler (K Ryan, 70), D Barron – captain (N Scannell, 51), J Ryan (S Archer, 55); E O’Connell (T Beirne, 51), F Wycherley; P O’Mahony (J O’Donoghue, 60), A Kendellen (J Hodnett, 55), G Coombes.

Yellow card: A Nankivell 25-35.

STADE FRANCAIS: J Jonas (S Turagacoke, 51); C Laloi, J Marchant, P Boudehent, S Ezeala (L Carbonel, 77); Z Henry, T Motassi (L Foursans-Bourdette, 74); C Castets, L Peyresblanques (L Petriashvili, 25-35 – HIA & 60), F Gomez Kodela; P-H Azagoh, B Pesenti; P Huguet (A Timo, 56), R Chapuis – captain, Y Tanga (J Martin Scelzo, 51).

Red cards: P-H Azagoh 49mins, B Pesenti 52mins.

Replacements not used: M Alo-Emile, P Alo-Emile.

Referee: Luke Pearce (England).