Error-prone Munster fall to nightmare defeat to Sharks

URC: Munster 3 Sharks 15

The Sharks celebrated their first win at Thomond Park, and only their second win in Ireland in 13 visits, by posing for a squad photo in the rain afterwards as they celebrated their third victory on this tour to Europe.

By then Clayton McMillan was addressing his Munster men in the changing room after their poorest display of the season and they will go into the November break with three losses, a win and a draw from their opening five URC games.

“We take no satisfaction from where we sit on the table,” admitted McMillan. “Today was the first day that we probably felt like we hadn’t put ourselves in a position to legitimately win the game whereas in the previous four games we had.

“So we’ve got a bit of an uphill battle but we take a well-earned rest knowing that we’ve acquitted ourselves pretty well with a young side and lots of injured guys on the sideline.

“But we’ve got to continue to get better and hopefully in the next few weeks we welcome a few bodies back and that helps share the load. It’s a timely break for us but we still got a lot of work to do.”

Ten of the Munster were aged 23 or under, while the Sharks, who won in Lyon in the Challenge Cup and Cardiff in the league on this tour, could call on 10 Springboks in their squad.

But Munster made life so difficult for themselves with basic errors and while conditions were difficult, the Durban side handled the wet ball much better and deserved their fourth win of the campaign.

“It wasn’t like we hadn’t been presented with enough opportunity, just our accuracy five to 10 metres out from our own line,” added McMillan. “We needed to convert those and create a bit of scoreboard pressure.

“But in essence we probably breathed a little bit of life into their game to hold us out and to go in at 5-3.

“We just weren’t quite as connected as we needed to be on a kick-chaser around the length of the field and then we were chasing the game.”

Sharks scored the only try of the opening half to lead 5-3 at the break with both sides struggling in the wet conditions, making continuous handling errors just when an opening seemed on.

Munster enjoyed 61 per cent possession in the first half but failed to make that count where it mattered most, despite several promising positions with penalties to the corner.

However, time and again the opportunity was lost with cheap turnovers and it was the Sharks who looked sharper in attack, not least when teenage sensation Zekhethelo Siyaya was in possession.

The 19-year-old fullback struck to set up the opening score after countering from deep and his chip created havoc with the bounce deceiving JJ Hanrahan and then Ben O’Connor for outhalf Gianni Lombard to pounce and score. He failed to add what should have been an easy conversion.

Siyaya looked set to double the lead after 24 minutes when he again broke and chipped but knocked the ball dead off his thigh as Munster scrumhalf Ben O’Donovan was rewarded for his chase.

Early Munster forays into the red zone yielded nothing with handling errors but they continued to enjoy plenty of possession with number eight Brian Gleeson impressing, while Jack O’Donoghue and Fineen Wycherley also won some hard turnovers.

But the Munster lineout was sloppy and when they won a penalty just before the break they opted for the posts and Hanrahan duly obliged to leave them two points adrift at the interval.

The tight battle continued in the third quarter with neither side getting on top, with Munster tighthead Kieran Brookes and Sharks loosehead Ox Nche enjoying a great battle in the scrum.

But the Springbok was lucky to escape with just a yellow card after 57 minutes for a high hit on Jeremy Loughman, who was without the ball.

The Durban side though wrapped up the win while down to 14 men, with Emile van Heerden stealing a lineout from a throw from Lee Barron, on for his first action of the season, with Nick Hatton breaking through and while he was stopped by O’Connor, replacement Ivan van Zyl was on hand to score in the right corner.

Lombard added the conversion from the right touchline to make it 15-3 going into a final quarter where Munster never looked like staging a comeback.

They had ample possession to mount a late rally and at least grab a losing bonus point as they did away to Leinster a week earlier.

But while the introduction of Charlie O’Shea injected some drive into their play, they lacked the accuracy to threaten a Sharks defence which did the simple things well and were good value for their first win in Limerick and head back to Durban showing all the signs of a side which could be heavily involved in the business of the campaign.

This defeat will weigh heavily on McMillan and his men for the next few weeks without a match and they will need to regroup for the resumption of the season and nine games on the spin.

The New Zealander will have his work cut out on the basis of this display.

SCORING SEQUENCE – 14 mins: Lombard try, 0-5; 39: Hanrahan pen, 3-5; HT: 3-5; 54: Lombard pen, 3-8; 59: Van Zyl try, Lombard con, 3-15.

Munster: B O’Connor; S McCarthy, G Wood, A Nankivell, R Russell; JJ Hanrahan, B O’Donovan; J Wycherley, M Van der Merwe, K Brookes; E O’Connell, F Wycherley; S Edogbo, J O’Donoghue (capt), B Gleeson. Replacements: J Loughman for J Wycherley (46 mins), A Kendellen for S Edogbo (46), G Coombes for Gleeson (46), E Edogbo for O’Connell (46), J O’Riordan for O’Donovan (54-58, 70), M Alaalatoa for Brookes (57), L Barron for Van der Merwe (60), C O’Shea for Hanrahan (63).

Sharks: Z Siyaya; E van der Merwe, S Hartzenberg, E Hooker, J Williams; G Lombard, J Hendrikse; O Nche, E Bester, H Jacobs; J Jenkins, E van Heerden; T Maverse, M Tshituka, N Hatton (capt). Replacements: T du Toit for Jacobs (50 mins), S Lewies for Jenkins (52), V Tshituka for Maverse (52), I van Zyl for Hendrikse (59), E Mnebelele for E Bester (62), C Dawson for Lewies (62), D Landsberg for Van Heerden (63).

Referee: Ben O’Connor (Wales).