Commitment & strength were key for Munster as they made it two out of two, says Trevor Murphy…
Last Friday night saw Munster take to the hallowed Thomond Park turf for the first time this season. The opponents on the night were Benetton Treviso. The Italian outfit have not had a lot of success on their travels but were just off the back of a surprise win against the defending RaboDirect Pro12 Champions the Ospreys. As with most Italian sides they are no push over in the tight aspect of the game. Munster came into this fixture with a lot of hope and expectation after their encouraging win in Murrayfield.
The first sign that we would not have it all our own way was a Treviso penalty in the second minute when we were pinged for hands in the ruck. Di Bernardo duly converted the opportunity. 0-3 to Treviso. Munster kicked short from the restart hoping to catch Treviso napping. One thing that I have noticed so far is that Munster is in no way shy of using the grubber kick. It can be a great tactic to turn defences but I worry that we are using it too often. Without the space to put it into we are effectively handing the opposition cheap possession. Verdict: Undecided
Our commitment and strength in the tackle area at the moment is very impressive. Varley won a very good penalty in the fourth minute. At the ruck in question he was very quickly over the ball and set himself in such a way as to be very difficult to move off it. From the penalty we kicked into the Italian 22. At the lineout we caught Treviso napping with a well thrown long ball over the lineout to Dave O’Callaghan who went charging into the 22. Doug Howlett ran a precise support line to be in the right place for a sublime inside pass. Doug went under the posts for our first score. 7-3 to Munster.
A couple of minutes later we get a small glimpse of Treviso’s danger man. Brendan Williams has impressive pace but more astounding is his change of direction. He has the ability to make defenders look ordinary and rarely get stopped at the first tackle. He’s not a tackle breaker like Downey or Laulala, he is so quick that the first hand on him usually barely gets to grips with his jersey or shorts. If he played for a bigger team you would see his name on the try charts a lot more in my opinion. Treviso’s progress is short lived as Varley wins another good penalty for Munster.
Our scrum was solid in the early stages of the game with Treviso giving away penalties. In the tenth minute such a penalty sees another incursion into the Treviso twenty two. Treviso defended quite well preventing Munster from breaking through their lines. Unfortunately for them the pressure told and they gave away another penalty deep in their twenty two for a ruck infringement. This was after Dougall fended off an Italian second row with a mighty hand off. Not in the typical way where a defender is trying to tackle from behind or the side. This was a full on “thou shalt not pass” style face to face job. Dougall is shaping up to make the seven jersey a tough decision for the coaches. Keatly converts, 10-3 to Munster.
Munster displayed their willingness to run the ball out from deep in the next phase. Execution let them down slightly out wide. There has been quite a lot said about the level of errors so far in Munster’s preseason games. I think we have to give the new coaching and playing staff a little bit more time to gel before we need to start worrying unnecessarily. Dougall impressed again in the defensive phase making the important tackle and getting to his feet quickly to win the ball. It set Munster away with Casey Laulala breaking to the ten meter line before offloading to Keatley. At this point we had a four on two but not a lot of space to work in. Keatley took the contact to recycle the ball. Munster were working the ball from wing to wing when Ceccato knocked the ball out of Dougall's hand on the east touchline.
Munster conceded a penalty at the scrum allowing Treviso to clear their lines. The Munster aggression and commitment in defence forced Di Bernardo into a drop goal attempt which went right and wide. The drop out was recycled by Treviso and after a bad pass to Williams he again gives us a glimpse of his ability. He broke through a tackle but Varley had a big effect on the next ruck forcing the Treviso man to knock on while trying to maintain possession.
Treviso conceded yet another penalty with their number six guilty of slapping the ball down. The referee issued a warning to the Treviso captain for the number of offences. Our lineout was scrappy and put us under pressure. Downey made progress through the line but a knock on was the result. Play went on and we were quite lucky. Williams joined the line out wide but thankfully he only had his hooker outside him. The hookers hand let him down and play was brought back for our knock on. If the roles had been reversed we were looking at a try conceded!
The resulting scrum broke up in a bit of a shemozzle when Munster pilled on the pressure. Du Preez pushed his opponent away which led to some shenanigans. To be honest I don’t mind a little bit of that in a match. To me it shows a certain level of commitment. What I didn’t and don’t like to see is cowardly acts. Archer was punched from the side and behind by his opponent in the front row but also by Bernabo the Treviso five. A pair of cowards if ever I saw them! And for good measure the Treviso four, Pavanello, stuck his mitts into Archer too. I suppose if you can’t win a fair fight you have to resort to this kind of rubbish. Don’t get me wrong, two guys face to face exchanging “love taps” is not a problem. I have a real issue with cowards. Take a bow Cittadini, Bernabo and Pavanello.
Wow 1000 words in and that was all in the first twenty minutes of the game... I will finish this one off later in the week. I don’t want to put any of you to sleep 
PART TWO
Sorry about the delay folks. A small IT snafu held this episode up.
In the first part of my report on the Munster v Treviso fixture I went on a bit of a rampage regarding a shemozzle after a scrum. Since then I have had a chance to think about it.... And I have decided to nominate the Italian transgressor who displayed the most cowardice Yep, I like this approach so I hope you get 10% of the enjoyment that I did! My nomination goes to (insert drum roll) number 4 Pavanello. The captain of all people! Step up Missus, you’re the big winner. His crime I hear you ask? Getting involved in a shemozzle from long range and shirking the physical nature of said shemozzle contrary to rule 76 Paragraph B subsection 2. Just because they are my rules and nobody else understands them won’t prevent me referring to said rule numerous times this season!
The next few minutes of the game are characterised by strong Munster defence, in a scrappy period punctuated by a good Munster breakout in midfield. Dougal offloading to Doug Howlet. Munster eventually coughs up the ball when the Italians muscle up and prevent us from getting the tackle situation to the deck. In the resulting scrum we concede a penalty after the ref pings us for whipping the scrum around. The right decision for the effort Treviso put in to drive us back. Hmmm a dominant scrum getting the decision... We may revisit this theme during the season!
After a good line out win Treviso go for a short trundle in midfield. Their lack of cohesion at the ruck sees the ball being kicked back to Williams who breaks a couple of tackles and sets up another ruck. Good Munster defence sees Treviso possession sufficiently disrupted that the ball comes back on the Munster side. Treviso are going nowhere in the centre of the field. Munster again run from deep but AGAIN... a grubber kick to hand possession to the Italians. Williams breaks from his 22 to our 10m line ghosting through tackles but unfortunately for them their continuity is not good enough.
Munster kick to open space on the Italian 22 and a very good kick chase turns the kick into a positive situation for Munster. The Italian are penalised for sealing off and Keatly has a very kickable penalty. 16-3 to Munster looks about right for the effort to date. A Munster knock on follows from the restart giving Treviso decent field position to build phases from. Again we see the side to side play forced on the Italians by the aggressive Munster defence. Treviso might have had more success if their big runners in the loose didn’t look like they were trundling to the couch for a rest. There was no urgency on display by Treviso.
This has the looks of a very long piece for a not too exciting game so the remainder of the first half will be in Match Tracker style
31min Munster Scrum
32min Grubber kick
32min Munster Knock on
33min Treviso Scrum
33min Treviso Scrum reset
34min Munster attack into Treviso 22
34min Treviso breaks from their 22 to Munster 22
34min Treviso knock on. Butchered try opportunity! Pass probably wasn’t the greatest...
35min Munster Scrum outside own 22. Archer being talked to about his bind
36min Munster get scrum penalty. Treviso scrum demolished!
37min Munster lineout between Treviso 10m line and half way
37min Lineout overthrown
37min Munster Knock on
38min Treviso Scrum
38min Treviso scrum after knock on/forward pass
39min Treviso knock on
39min Munster knock on
40min Treviso Scrum
40min Poor control by Treviso. Munster breaks into Treviso half but kick the ball away again
HALF TIME
This match really degenerated in quality late in the half. Poor execution by both sides with frequent knock on’s... That doesn’t read or look right. Anyone know what the plural of knock on is? Answers on a self addressed envelope to... Never mind, that’s a job for Collins dictionary.
Early 2nd half possession is kicked away giving Treviso a platform deep in our half. Treviso actually look like they are interested early in the 2nd half. Another poorly marshalled Treviso gave Munster an opportunity to relieve the pressure but good defence sees Treviso force a scrum from a maul.
Munster had a great opportunity to increase their lead in the 45th minute but their handling lets them down at the final hurdle. Howlett ran a good line to progress to the Treviso 22. The medical people certainly look to have worked a minor miracle on Doug’s Achilles tendon injury.
Munster had another great opportunity to score when pressuring deep in the Treviso 22. Alberto Scarbi was sent to the bin for not rolling away when Munster looked ready to extend their advantage by seven points. Instead Keatly had an easy penalty to convert. Munster were starting to run freely but a Treviso player made a nuisance of himself to stop the scoring pass. With Munster deep in the Treviso half things were looking up.
Unfortunately it didn’t work out like that. The half pretty much petered out from there with a Treviso penalty the only other score to report. Credit is due to Treviso who turned their dismal intensity levels around from the first half. With the level of possession Munster had it really felt like there was a decent win to be had on the night.
The crowd attendance on the night was very poor. Perhaps 10000 attended, but to be honest I think that is a optimistic number. Our team needs us people. They feed from us and vice versa... Where are all the supporters gone? Does my buddy have a point about the level of fan pride in the Jersey? I don’t like to think so. It wouldn’t appear to be the case with the number of jersey’s being worn around town on a daily basis. The attendance on the night for our first home game gives credence to his argument. Prove him wrong people!
I’m Trevor, 39. A passionate Munster and Irish Rugby Fan. A champion of the underdog. I have strong opinions on this beautiful game of ours. Always analysing tactics and phases of play. I believe in the old saying “It’s not about the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the about size of the fight in the dog”. Stand up and fight!
