A Fighting Chance

With a lot still to play for in Pool 1 of the European Champions Cup, Head Coach Anthony Foley and back row Tommy O’Donnell give us their thoughts on yesterday’s losing bonus point defeat to Clermont Auvergne at the Stade Marcel Michelin.

Axel began by reflecting on the result, the knock-on effect of Clermont’s second try, and the composure shown to keep the hosts at bay while down to 14 men.

"It's not what we came here for unfortunately, but a crucial score before half-time gave them some breathing space in the second half and I think it would have been a different story if we went in 8-6 at half-time.

“We seemed to lose momentum. But I thought we did quite well when Felix was sin binned, I think we conceded three at that time. But we had a good game, it slowed down to a level that allowed them to maintain dominance and we were still basically playing on our heels, but that tends to happen when you’re down to 14, you have to batten down the hatches a small bit.

“Then with the cross field kick for the try, the floodgates could have opened but in fairness to the boys they stood firm and we got 10 points of our own in the last few minutes and managed to come away with something.”

Foley went on to discuss a much improved performance from his charges and the never-say-die attitude that could prove crucial come the end of January.

“We don't know how valuable that is until round 6. We do take it for granted that a Munster team will fight until the bitter end anyway but sometimes you've got to give them credit – when their backs were to the wall, they did fight, they did get back within 7 and they did get something out of here.

“We had plenty of opportunities in the first half and unfortunately we didn't capitalise on those moments. However it was good to see the boys playing, getting momentum into the game and really having a cut off them. Unfortunately we didn't get any points out of it.

“We're still alive, we're not dead until the 80th minute against Sale in Thomond Park and we'll fight to the end and see how many points we can accumulate between now and that moment.”

A dynamic and robust performance saw Tommy O’Donnell ask questions of Clermont both at the breakdown and in attack, notably in the opening 40. The Munster openside also spoke with media following the game and looked at the opportunities missed in yesterday's defeat.

"We don't know what's going to happen in the next 2 rounds but we're still here, we're still alive and we're still fighting.

“In the first half when you get in behind a team like Clermont you have to press home the advantage and have to get tries, penalties aren't good enough. Two penalties and you can see how quickly they closed that gap so I think we just have to keep getting more ruthless and keep punishing teams when we get in behind them.”

“After their third try we spoke under the posts and it was all about the bonus point and let's get a try back. We didn't want to roll over or give up, especially in these games in this group, a group as good as ours, we know every point counts."