Graham Rowntree: 'That wasn't us, we have to do better than that.'

Graham Rowntree rued Munster’s lack of physicality in the first-half of their 38-26 defeat at home to Glasgow on Saturday as his side blew their chance of moving into the top four of the BKT URC standings.

The Thomond Park defeat, which saw the visitors consolidate their grip on fourth place on a night when Munster could have leapfrogged them into that all-important final spot for a home quarter-final draw in May, means Rowntree’s men trail the Scottish side by six points with two rounds of the league’s regular season remaining.

It also comes a week out from the first of three games in South Africa next month when the Reds will play the Sharks in Durban in a knockout Round of 16 Champions Cup tie next Saturday. There then follows a return for the URC’s closing rounds at the Stormers in Cape Town and then a repeat visit to King’s Park to face the Sharks.

Munster had trailed 28-0 at half-time as Glasgow dominated collisions, the breakdown and set-piece to claim their try bonus-point on the stroke of half-time. Some pride was restored after the interval with Gavin Coombes, Craig Casey, Josh Wycherley, Calvin Nash all scoring tries to rescue a try bonus point though a losing BP remained out of reach as the visitors added a fifth from man of the match Siona Vainalu, the Tongan No.8’s second of the game.

It all left the Munster head coach non-plussed as his side’s five-game winning run in the league came to a crushing halt on home soil.

“As we said at half time, it's a beautifully simple game, you lose collisions both side of the ball, you're going to lose the game,” Rowntree said.

“We were better in the second half in that regard, but collisions, and our inaccuracy when we got near their tryline... it wasn't us, it wasn't us.

“They were stopping our ball-carry, and we weren't stopping theirs. We were giving them a few freebies, penalties off the scrum, going to the corner, and they scored off them.

“I'm not going to sugar coat it, I didn't sugar coat it to the lads at half-time or after. That wasn't us, we have to do better than that.”

Munster will need to improve quickly ahead of their long-haul trip to the Sharks as Rowntree’s focus immediately switches to a side packed with Springboks led by Siy Kolisi.

Thoughts on his side’s lengthening odds on securing a home URC quarter-final were not entertained.

“I can't think about that, I have to think about the next game, to try get a squad together now to submit to the airline tonight, to get on a flight Tuesday night to Durban for a European game.

“The connotations of the league, we'll deal with that later. The next game is all I'm worried about. We need to get Monday right, get this week right, get a squad right and prepared for this next game.”