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Another semi final, another Munster defeat. That's it, that's the bottom line and all the record will say is Munster haven't won a trophy since 2011.
I said it before the game that it was stacked against Munster. They were in a catch 22 situation in that they couldn't hope to win against Leinster using the same gameplan of physicality without Killer, Kleyn and Snyman and they didn't have enough time to practice and implement an expansive gameplan in less than two weeks. You also can't miss those kicks at goal and expect to win. As a fan its gut wrenching, god knows what its like as a player.
Munster came up with a hybrid gameplan to contain Leinster. The aim was to play territory, keep the ball for as long as they could and kick to out Leinster under pressure. The kicking wasn't all about being contestable, its about putting Leinster in a position where they couldn't play and had to kick the ball back to Munster. In that regard Munster's plan actually worked. They nullified Leinsters attack. The jackal threat at nearly every breakdown forced Leinster to over commit to rucks and even with their strength in depth at heavy carrier they couldn't rotate their pods enough and they had to kick it back.
Munster just didn't have the heavy carriers to create front foot ball. The front five as a unit were willing but just couldn't make an impact with ball in hand off a static ruck ball. CJ was double or triple teamed and we under utlized our mammoth centers as heavy carriers. People will give out about Murray and Casey box kicking but when you are losing ground and you can't rotate carriers before the defense has reset and is lining them up what is the other option? Wait and continue to lose ground with ball in hand?
Also the trolls will be out looking for players to be dropped. Every player out there was playing to the gameplan, an altered game plan designed to try and account for a quarter of the team, four of its best players were missing through injury. Killer, Kleyn, Snyman, Carbery. Very few teams in europe could lose that many players of that calibre and still compete with Leinster.
So lets start looking at where Munster can turn things around. Well first and very simply they can get four star players back fit and healthy. To put it bluntly thats going to solve a shit load of problems right there. However some of those injuries are going to take a while to heal. In the interim I think Munster can start putting their trust in some of the youngsters coming through. They need to get carriers into the tight five and Knox, Salanoa and Ahern all need to see gametime in the league. Munster need to figure out the balance of the backrow. We have multiple jackal threats but we need another bruising ball carrier to support CJ. We need one of Jack O'Sullivan, Coombes or Hodnett to step up and force their way into the equation.
Perhaps the most pressing area for Van Graan is at hooker where despite having three quality players not one of them is making an impact as ball carrier. Its the one skillset lacking in the group and if JVG is to address it then I think he may well have to look outside the province for the moment.
It may well transpire that JJ was carrying a knock during that game and we couldn't afford to replace him and that may well lead to the likes of Healy, Crowley and Flannery getting some time in the Pro 14. Two of Munsters best players are Earls and Conway. Both are deadly finishers and if you give them half a chance they can score. Tonight Munster again failed to put them into space and give them one on one opportunities. I know I keep harping on about this but if your forwards can't put you on the front foot, shoveling shit out the back line to a winger with a drifting defense coming forward onto them isn't going to get you much of a return.
Until Munster can sort out the tight five they are merely sticking band-aids on a broken bone.