We didn’t play well enough to win and getting this draw flattered us – O’Mahony
MUNSTER captain Peter O’Mahony admitted his side got out of jail against
Racing 92 last night.
Despite dominating possession and territory for large periods of the game, Munster trailed the Parisians for most of the contest.
Superb scores from Finn Russell, Teddy Thomas and Juan Imhoff kept the hosts at arm’s length all evening.
It took a late try from Andrew Conway and a touchline conversion from JJ Hanrahan to snatch a late draw, and O’Mahony conceded that the Reds were lucky to get a share of the points at the death.
‘I don’t think we played well enough to win the game, to be totally honest with you,’ said the Munster captain.
‘We played some very good rugby but some mental lapses defensively cost you against teams like that.
‘I thought they played really well and we played some really good rugby as well but overall, it probably flattered us a bit, getting the draw, with the way they played and the overall way we played. That would be my gut feeling.’
Backed by their ferocious home crowd, Johann van Graan’s men launched a final quarter assault on Racing and could have snatched a late win, only for Hanrahan’s last-gasp drop goal attempt to sail wide of the posts.
But O’Mahony backed the Munster No.10 – who impressed throughout – to bounce back from his late miss. ‘Yeah, back from an injury and an 80-minute performance,’ he said.
‘He kicked an incredible conversion to get us two points... they’re pressure kicks, you know?
‘That fella trains harder than anyone.
‘He’d be disappointed himself after but he shouldn’t be. I thought he had a class performance and that conversion was certainly out of the top drawer.’
There will be very little margin for error now with back-to-back meetings against Saracens on the horizon next month before Munster travel to Paris to face Racing on their home turf in January.
Last night’s draw is a setback but Van Graan cited last season’s pool stages, when Munster emerged from a group containing Exeter, Gloucester and Castres, despite drawing their opening round game against the Chiefs.
‘You’ve got to take history into consideration as well,’ said the Munster head coach.
In the last two years, we drew our first game and
won the second one. This time around we won our first one and drew our second one.
‘That bonus point away last week was a big moment and the fact is that we leave here with two points all and top the group, jointly with Racing, with four rounds to go.
‘Obviously we have the double coming up against Saracens.
‘What we’ve learned in this competition is you take the points on offer. We got ourselves into a winning position. Unfortunately, it didn’t go over and that’s just rugby. I said to the players afterwards as a coach all you can ask is that they gave everything they got and we did.’
The South African hailed his side’s tenacity when Racing were on top in the third quarter with the hosts hanging on.
‘We were on the ropes but we stuck at it,’ he said.
‘We showed up defensively at important moments. We’re never a team to roll over, especially not at home.
‘We managed to get the two points at the end, which will stand to us. I think that’s what Munster is about.
‘A lot of teams in Europe would have given up at that stage but we just kept fighting.
‘These players don’t know how to give up. The players gave it their all. It’s just the way rugby goes.
It’s inches sometimes in games like these. We held on and we held on and we got some momentum when we got that try and were literally within one kick of winning this game.’