An “immensely proud” Graham Rowntree hailed the latest chapter in Munster’s storied Champions Cup history after they inflicted just a fourth defeat on Toulon in 15 years at their Stade Felix Mayol fortress.
The Munster head coach attributed their 29-18 win over the three-time winners to the return of some key personnel, benefiting from perfect conditions, a resolute defence and staying true to their principles of running rugby.
“We spoke this week about being ambitious. I’ve seen the body of work we’ve done all season. We had a challenging period over Christmas with weather, a lot of moving parts with injuries, et cetera, but we’ve had a cracking training week.
“This is a huge competition for us, and we were able to come over here and get our game on the field there. I’m immensely proud of the lads right from the get-go. We didn’t have a lot of possessional territory and, a lot of it we were defending extremely well, but we took our chances when we had to.”
With their prospects of qualifying for the Round of 16 on the line, Munster fell 10-0 behind when a slaloming counterattack by Jiuta Wainiqolo off a kick by Jack Crowley set up Duncan Paia’aua for an 80-metre try.
But Rowntree said the instructions were to “just stick to the plan”. “Really, in terms of how we’re challenging the team within our structure and our phase shape. Just basically stick to what we’ve been doing in training.
“We changed our kicking game a bit at half-time, but stuck to the plan, you know, under pressure. We knew if we can keep the ball on the field, keep the ball in play and move them around, that there’d be opportunities for us when we stuck to that plan. Nothing more exciting than that, really.”
The victory, Munster’s first away from home this season, ended a run of four games without a win, which could feed into next Saturday’s home game against Northampton, and then hope that Exeter return empty-handed from their game in Bayonne, Sunday’s last game at 5.30pm Irish time.
“It increases our belief. You know, we’ve not lost that completely. We knew, injuries, a few lads coming back into the team, we knew good ground conditions, good weather, we can play. The evidence is there.
“Look what we did in Exeter, you know, we lost our way the last quarter in the Exeter game but we played some scintillating rugby. We know what we can do, but this just backs up the body of work we’ve done, backs up our belief.”
Rowntree also hailed the performance of Tadhg Beirne sitting alongside him in his role as captain.
“What about this fellah? He led the team by example with his actions. There were some performances. Obviously Tom [Ahern] has found a new life there on the edge of the field and we adjusted what Pete [O’Mahony] was doing in his role to accommodate that, even though Tom was playing secondrow and he had a big performance.
“I’m glad you mentioned John Hodnett. He’s quietly been under the radar. Very important to us, but the man next to me led by example today.”
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