Munster 26; Ospreys 10
This is a strange sort of Munster outfit we are observing these days but ultimately they have learned how to win against the head.
And their head coach Clayton McMillan agreed after their latest victory in Wales that winning is a habit, no matter what way you achieve it.
Shane Daly, Lee Barron and Jack Crowley touched down for first-half tries in Bridgend before Mike Haley's got the bonus point with his dot down - a result which allows the men from the deep south to claim second spot in the URC standings.
That is the good spin of the encounter. On the other side, Munster were at times flat and lacked fluidity in their play. Errors were committed a little too often and more alarmingly the team’s discipline saw Ospreys dominate possession.
Afterwards McMillan lamented: “I’ve been speaking to lots of media people who have questioned how we have been winning but it’s not been pretty. When you look across the competition, everyone’s in a similar boat. Teams have good days at the office, others where they look scratchy but just get across the line, that’s the stage of the season we’re at. It’s cold, wet, windy, everyone’s fighting for points. Just try to keep your nose in front.
“The Ospreys are a team that are fighting for everything at the moment, including their existence. That makes them dangerous, coming off the back of a couple of wins, that would put wind in their sails. I thought they were tenacious, they fought for everything. They didn’t give us anything for free. We’re happy to travel over here and go away with a bonus-point win,” he added.
Next up is festive interpro with Leinster at Thomond Park and a return of the Munster Ireland contingent is expedited. That means Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley and Craig Casey will be in red after Beirne and Casey sat out the Welsh trip and Crowley should be ok after an injury.
Said the Head Coach: “All of those players, they can’t play six games in a row. They have to sit out a number of games.”
Cullen - ‘We need to get a lot better’
Leinster aren’t anything like the Leinster of old and this is something that has fans worried, that maybe we are witnessing the decline of a large bunch of players at the same time following years in the front line for province, country and Lions tours.
With a second string very much playing second fiddle to an energized Ulster team in the Aviva Stadium on Friday night, Head Coach Leo Cullen turned to his old guard for salvation - and got it from the displays of the likes of Tadgh Furlong, Dan Sheehan and the McCarthy brothers, the latter pair hardly ‘old dog’ - more young tigers.
With these on board, the home side turned a 17-7 half-time deficit around to win by 24-20, holding their opponents to one penalty goal in the entire second half.
This was a night when inspiration was not nearly as important as perspiration - and the second half changes saw Leinster fight for every yard as if their lives depended on it - ultimately a case when hard work trumped everything else.
There was no instant reward for that approach but with Ulster’s starters tiring rapidly, inevitably holes began to appear and tries in the last 20 minutes by the otherwise out of sorts James Lowe and post half-time replacement Dan Sheehan saw the boys in blue not only come from behind but garner a bonus point into the process - something that hoist them up to fourth place in the league standings after a poor opening run of results.
Afterwards Cullen praised his charges for turning around what looked like a home reverse with their never-say-die spirit. “I suppose we're learning to win in a slightly different way, anyway, nine points down last week, 10 points down this week, which is great. It is not the way you ideally want to play every week. Guys are trying a little bit too hard at times, you know, rather than just being patient.
“We can wear some of these teams down. So we're trying a little bit too hard. And then suddenly we’re getting ourselves in trouble because we're forcing things that are not necessarily on, and then Ulster scored three tries in the first half. And that gets us into that situation where we're 10 points down. You're not going to get away with that week on week. So we need to be better, clearly.”
Ulster head coach and Bray resident Richie Murphy praised the Leinster bench as being decisive in the outcome of the contest: “There's no doubt that their bench has a massive impact in the back end of the game. And from an experience and point of view, we're at very different levels of players coming onto the pitch.”
