PAIRC GAVE US A SPARK

MUNSTER coach Graham Rowntree admits he would love Munster to play at “special” Pairc Ui Chaoimh again.

The Cork GAA ground played stage to the Reds’ 28-14 win over South Africa A on Thursday night.

The 41,400 sell-out crowd the game attracted is set to lead to calls for Munster to play some Champions Cup games there or perhaps a Christmas URC clash with arch rivals Leinster.

“The support was brilliant, it was a really special night in a cracking stadium,” said Rowntree after the four tries to two win over a side that included 14 Springboks.

“We had a big gala dinner and it was my first visit to the place. I thought, ‘Wow, it’s a proper stadium’. It was a special, special night. I’m really proud of all the support.”

The win after tries from Shane

Daly, Simon Zebo, Diarmuid Barron and Mike Haley featured a superb all-round display from Munster which Rowntree (below) hopes will kickstart their season.

It was all based around the display of half-backs Ben Healy and Paddy Patterson – third choice in both cases given that Joey Carbery, Jack Crowley, Craig Casey and the injured Conor Murray are away with Ireland – and Rowntree was impressed with the way they took the game to the tourists. He added: “Right from the first minute, they were at it. We had Paddy sniping and moving the ball and Ben’s composure, calmness and his kicking game, his handling, his long bridge passing game, it was on point.”

Rowntree was also delighted with the debut of on-loan lock Kiran Mcdonald, the Scotsman producing a solid display after signing from financially-troubled Wasps.

The former England international said: “I’d never heard of him until a couple of weeks ago actually.

“He’s come in, literally came overnight, warmed up with us against Ulster and he slotted straight in there. He did a big shift, I’m proud of him.”

And the Munster coach was also thrilled with the first start produced by the Irish-qualified French centre Antoine Frisch who was signed from Bristol during the summer.

“He’s classy, silky, smooth – we haven’t been able to play him until now because of injury but that was a first opportunity to get a look at him. There’s some real talent building in that midfield for us,” he added.