MUNSTER will now turn attention to the defence of their URC title following Sunday’s European Cup loss at Northampton Saints.
The tie was level, 14 points apiece at the break, but Saints eventually won through 24-14.
“It was a battle. You saw in the first half how tight it was and even in the second half, the game was on a knife edge for the majority of it,” reflected Munster captain Tadhg Beirne in his post-match media interview.
“We go from having them in their 22 to all of a sudden they’re scoring. It’s moments like that we’ll look back on and be very frustrated with.
“But I can’t fault the lads’ effort. It was certainly a battle but we came out on the wrong side of it.”
Coach Graham Rowntree added: “I’m proud of our effort. We stuck in there, a proper game of rugby. It’s not been a straightforward week in terms of availability and illness… but we rolled our sleeves up and got on with it for a big game against a great team. I’m proud of our effort but we’ll sit down and look at how we don’t give away those presents.”
