The Irish Mail on Sunday

Still lots to improve on but this was a charge in right direction

- By Shane McGrath

WITH FOUR grunts they were free – ish. Munster bulldozed through at least some of the doubts cobwebbing the first weeks of the Graham Rowntree premiershi­p in Thomond Park last night. There may be some red left in the rainbow after all.

Four tries in little more than an hour, with forwards responsibl­e for the scores, harks back to the classic Munster type.

But there was enough contained within this performanc­e to indicate that the desperate need for a tactical upgrade is now being successful­ly addressed.

The great fortresses of the European game that Munster once ransacked as a matter of right are safe for another while yet; the needless mistakes that sabotaged their opening matches under Rowntree were still in evidence, with their heedlessne­ss in possession a failing that must be infuriatin­g for a coaching team.

They are getting better, though, and in attack they played some outstandin­g

Fluency is still only sporadic, more games will be needed to build cohesion

rugby, as Shane Daly, Joey Carbery and Craig Casey looked inspired at times.

When the first try finally arrived in the 29th minute, Gavin Coombes bludgeoned over in a manner typical of the grand Munster tradition.

A forward getting up off the ground, his exhausted head tapped by grateful team-mates, is an image that flickers through the red generation­s.

But this was a traditiona­l ending to a half-hour of rugby in the finest modern tradition.

Rob Penney was ridiculed a decade ago for having forwards take passes in wide positions, but his biggest mistake was failing to sell the future to a province, and a support, still hooked on old glories.

Penney was experience­d enough to know that Munster needed to change, but he couldn’t find an audience receptive to his message. They’re listening now.

Five seasons of grinding mediocrity under Johann van Graan have done wonders for the brave and faithful’s sense of adventure.

The message being sold by Graham Rowntree has thus far been garbled, but there was greater clarity last night.

Fluency is still only sporadic, and it’s clear that it will take more games to build the understand­ing required of the best teams.

The attacking patterns, though, indicate that Mike Prendergas­t has some bold ideas – and the players are taken with them.

The Bulls came with a deserved reputation, and memories of their last high-profile visit to Ireland, when storming the RDS last May, have not dimmed.

They were bold from the start here, but their determinat­ion to take on Munster no matter what saw them run into repeated trouble in deep defensive positions.

That helped invite Munster pressure that eventually manifested itself in grunted tries. Coombes got the first two in a similar manner, before Jeremy Loughman was gifted the third after half time.

That put Munster well clear but the failure of the prop to mind the ball properly led to the spill that let the Bulls in for a try through WJ Steenkamp.

It was avoidable and if its impact was also softened by the big advantage Munster had built up, that carelessne­ss will have been familiar to those paying attention to the team this season.

Tadhg Beirne’s try brought the bonus point and pushed the night into rout territory, until more inadverten­t home hospitalit­y allowed the Bulls save some face.

Yet more sloppiness saw Munster turn over the ball while on the attack, and replacemen­t David Kriel ran 60 metres to score.

There were too many mistakes of that nature to allow even the most dedicated supporter over-invest in this win, but it’s also possible to argue that they are a consequenc­e of a squad unaccustom­ed to adventurou­s rugby trying to get used to its rhythms.

These training wobbles have realworld impacts, of course, and that latest one let the Bulls cut the deficit to 14 points, and thereafter they formed a bridgehead into the Munster 22 that they were not inclined to abandon.

It led to a final 10 minutes that were edgy when they should have been procession­al.

The Bulls are a good team with an impressive depth of quality, and sieging an opponent’s line is the type of game to which they are ideally suited.

Withstandi­ng that is no small deal, and the value of it to the team’s morale was easily understood come the final whistle.

Players celebrated the win but one suspected that they were celebratin­g their defiance, too.

The two tries they did leak could have been avoided, but in the context of what they are trying to do, and given where they are trying to get to from a miserable starting point, this was a game that constitute­s good news.

Rowntree is well practised in presenting himself to the world as the hard-schooled prop who is now unshockabl­e.

Behind the façade, he would have been forgiven exasperati­on after his team’s early performanc­es.

This match was valuable, then, as a step forward but also as validation of his methods.

Memories of the laughable headlines screaming crisis when Joe Schmidt’s Leinster era started off poorly remain vivid, as do the clamour among the more ridiculous pundits to expose him as inadequate.

There hasn’t been a similar rush to declare Rowntree a fraud, and it seems reasonable to think that Munster’s hierarchy understand he needs time.

They indulged the failed van Graan years, right up to the excruciati­ng, extended goodbye, after all, so in trusting someone to clean up their mess, the least they owe him is time.´However, rebuilding is easier when tangible evidence of progress emerges, and that’s what happened last night.

The route to glory was a recognisab­le one, as Graham Rowntree’s new Munster made their boldest move towards better days.

 ?? ?? MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES: Joey Carbery charges forward for Munster against Bulls (main) as Jeremy Loughman scores his side’s third try (inset)
MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES: Joey Carbery charges forward for Munster against Bulls (main) as Jeremy Loughman scores his side’s third try (inset)
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