The unmistakable sight and sounds of a spluttering and coughing Tadhg Beirne during Munster’s post-match press briefing was evidence enough that an inconveniently timed illness had struck the team ahead of their Northampton-based Champions Cup Round of 16 tie, a fact that didn’t need to be reinforced by Graham Rowntree.
RG Snyman was deemed unfit for the match due to a harsh encounter with the virus, while teammate Craig Casey was spotted vomiting on the pitch before the commencement of the second half. The weakened Munster team succumbed to the Saints in a thrilling match, facing a 24-14 defeat.
Rowntree, keen to not pin the defeat solely on the illness that increased their injury concerns, most noticeably within their tight five, stated, “No need for further elaboration”. He added, “A bug had been circulating within the team. We plan to reassess our situation this coming week. As I was just discussing with Tadhg, we’re focussed on what we should avoid doing this week rather than plan for. We will reunite, and then it’s off to South Africa for a couple of weeks. We face two significant matches there and will just get on with it. We’ll dust off, identify what needs fixing, and press ahead.”
Adding to this, Beirne explained, “Yes, people fall ill; it’s simply a fact of life. All you can do is carry on. As Rowntree mentioned earlier, we’ve had some sickness in the team. This is routine in a team scenario, especially during scrummages where bugs can get transmitted from one player to another. However, that doesn’t justify our loss today. We gave a strong fight against the Saints, but they managed to gain advantage. We have to accept defeat gracefully.”
Rowntree expressed dissatisfaction with the way they lost, saying, “I told the lads afterwards about how we kept ‘handing gifts’ to the opponents. There were critical moments when we slip up or err, and they seize the advantage swiftly.”
In the match, there were significant turning points where we had the potential to score a try. However, through missed chances and losing the ball to the opponent, they managed to capitalise on our errors and score. We certainly provided them with opportunities.
Despite the disappointments, I’m filled with pride at our team’s determination. We persevered in a challenging game of rugby, even with numerous factors working against us such as players’ availability and ongoing illness. It may have been a challenging period, particularly evident in the condition of my player here, but we toughed it out in preparation for a pivotal match against a formidable adversary. I’m proud of our commitment, but we’ll examine ways to stop giving easy chances away.
My player Beirne, clearly exhausted and unwell, demonstrated his resilience and leadership qualities by forcing several turnovers. He acknowledged, “It was quite a struggle. The slim margin in both halves of the game was evident. It was disheartening flipping from a near score to them scoring. It’s those instances that we’ll reflect on with frustration. However, I can’t criticise the commitment demonstrated by the team. Despite it being a difficult game, we ended up on the losing side.”