Munster Rugby coach Graham Rowntree: "We'll have a good review and move forward"

MUNSTER Rugby suffered their second defeat in pre-season when going down by 14 points to a slick Gloucester side at Virgin Media Park in Cork.

A slugglish first half showing contributed significantly to Munster's undoing as the 'Cherry and Whites' ran in five tries in their 33-19 success.

Munster are continuing with their preparations ahead of the start of the new United Rugby Championship (URC) season, now less than two weeks' away.

Interprovincial rivals Connacht visit Thomond Park for an opening round fixture on Saturday, September 21, 5.30pm.

Munster had suffered a narrow defeat to Johann van Graan's Bath side at The Rec in their opening pre-season fixture, but Gloucester provided an even sterner test in front of an attendance of 4,497 on Friday.

Following Friday's game, head coach Graham Rowntree was confident the defeat would prove to be the 'kick up the backside' the side needed ahead of the start of the competitive season.

“No, a step back but I'm confident in the honesty of the group. We'll sit down, review it. I've been in bigger holes, but we need to nip in the bud now," a frank Rowntree said afterwards.

"I'm sure in 15 days' time we'll look back and think, 'That was the kick up the backside we needed.'

“Because we've had a good summer. We've trained well. New guys have come in. But we were punched in the face tonight. Crikey.”

"Our training has been accurate and been sharp. But we have to stick to the plan, stick to what we do in training and take opportunities.

"We'll have a good review and we'll move forward. That review will finish mid-morning on Monday morning and we'll move forward. It's an honest group. It's an honest group. They know that wasn't good enough. That wasn't reflective of this club."

Rowntree was pleased with the performances of several younger squad members who impressed in the pre-season games.

"Oh yeah, totally. That's a given positive, guys stepping in. Luca Cleary had his first game of adult rugby last week. He's getting up from the scrum and he's looking at Finn Russell. He's earning a few more quid than Luca Cleary, I can tell you that. Those are the real positives. Those young men, we'll pick them if they're good enough.

"Conor Ryan, we grabbed him off an adjacent pitch on 2 August, Cian Hurley dislocated his kneecap. And Conor was able to just slot straight in."