Dramatic finale in Durban was typical of turbulent Munster season
Munster supporters will tell you that following the province can be a heartbreaking, joyous, dejecting, pessimistic, optimistic, and thrilling experience. Sometimes, all of those things fit inside 80 minutes. There are rarely dull moments. Even when Munster seek a quieter existence, drama chases them down.
Their shootout defeat to the Sharks last weekend summed up their campaign in many ways. They were close to a rousing knock-out win on the road. They played some brilliant rugby at times. They played some awful rugby at other times. They never gave anything less than total commitment to the cause. But they did give less than total accuracy on occasion.
The Wink is what will be remembered by most, but the jump to applaud Munster's undoubted heart overlooks what should also feel like a missed opportunity.
Munster made a dream start against the Sharks, scoring a stunning try through Calvin Nash after just 10 minutes. The South Africans were dreadful early on and seemed totally unfocused. Munster needed to press their dominance home to a greater degree, but couldn't get further scoreboard separation.
Jack Crowley missed a kickable shot at goal, then Munster turned the ball over three times in quick succession near or inside the Sharks 22. Leading 7-0 away from home after the first quarter was a fine outcome, but it probably should have been more.
Heading into the last quarter of the game, Munster pulled 21-10 clear thanks to two further excellent tries from Josh Wycherley and Diarmuid Kilgallen. The first of them was a characteristic free-flowing phase-play attack, the kind of score attack coach Mike Prendergast has helped to make a calling card for this team.
21-10 up away from home with 18 minutes left in a quarter-final is a good place to be. But Munster knocked on the restart after Kilgallen's try and picked the ball up in an offside position. That immediate penalty concession metres from their own tryline was, unfortunately, a little characteristic of Munster this season too.
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Michael Milne and Craig Casey. Steve Haag Sports / Darren Stewart/INPHO Steve Haag Sports / Darren Stewart/INPHO / Darren Stewart/INPHO
The Sharks piled on set-piece pressure and eventually scored to get back within four points at 21-17.
10 minutes to go, Munster still had the advantage. But another error that they have made often this season – a bridge pass floating forward – gave the Sharks more access to the Munster half and the South African power told again.
Munster showed their mettle by earning an equalising penalty chance for the composed Conor Murray, then their sheer doggedness was on display in extra time. Tadhg Beirne's turnover on the line. Nash's trackback tackle. Tom Ahern's blockdown of the drop-goal attempt. Pure Munster DNA.
The Sharks were one kick better in the shootout as Jaden Hendrikse, Jordan Hendrikse, and unheralded Bradley Davids nervelessly slotted all six of their shots.
It's an awful way to lose a game – albeit thrilling for everyone else – but Munster have cause to rue their inability to win during the 80 minutes given their advantages in the first and final quarters.
Victory would have meant a semi-final away to the Bulls this weekend. Even if we know this Munster team can be excellent on the road, it would have been an onerous task.
The reality is that the damage was done during the regular season. Losing away to Zebre in September, the miserable defeat to Edinburgh in Cork in February, and being edged out by the Bulls at Thomond Park in April, giving up a winning position in Cardiff a week later. Those were the results that saw Munster come up short in the goal of a home quarter-final.
Munster were champions of the URC in 2022/23. They finished top of the regular season table in 2023/24 and advanced to a home semi-final. So this season was a clear backwards step in the URC as they finished sixth and exited in the quarter-finals.
Balancing that was progress beyond the Round of 16 in the Champions Cup thanks to their superb win away to Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle. That was a brilliant performance and also a memorable occasion as the Red Army travelled in force. It was a weekend that underlined that Munster still have magic about them.
Winning in La Rochelle was the highpoint of the season. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Zooming out, this was a more chaotic season than usual as head coach Graham Rowntree departed in October. There was another injury crisis. Forwards coach Andi Kyriacou followed Rowntree out the exit door, as did head of athletic performance Ged McNamara.
Munster ended up seeing the season out with Ian Costello as interim head coach and Alex Codling as interim forwards coach. Codling wasn't even there at key stages due to his commitments with Ireland Women.
The lineout was, in truth, shambolic for Munster overall this season. Statistically speaking, Munster's lineout was the worst of the 16 teams in the URC. It remains the key area they need to improve in next season.
The scrum had some good days but an equal amount of bad ones. It's very hard to win top-level rugby games when the set-piece doesn't at least get parity, so Munster must become more effective at lineout and scrum.
Defence coach Denis Leamy will surely feel that their consistency in his area of the game needs to be better, although that's probably true of all elements of Munster's play. Too often, they mixed the superb with the sloppy.
Incoming head coach Clayton McMillan knows he has lots of good players to work with. He will have seen again in the Sharks game that this squad is gritty. But the Munster set-up will be bracing themselves for some cold, hard truths from the Kiwi when he lands this summer. His no-nonsense, demanding approach will surely lift standards across the board. He must do that after key standard-setters have left the building.
Nailing down their forwards coach – Codling has been linked with a permanent role – is vital, while it's expected that McMillan will bring a new head of athletic performance with him.
It's crucial that Munster secured Champions Cup qualification for his first season in charge because it would have been disastrous to miss out.
There is warranted optimism for the future within Munster, given some of the talent in their squad and McMillan's pedigree. But no amount of romanticism can mask the fact that this season was a disappointing one.
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