Once upon a time, someone said ‘play to the whistle,’ another simple lesson that Munster, unlike most schoolboys in the land, hadn’t heard. via IrishTimesSport
Munster's defeat to Ulster marked the end of the Johann van Graan era. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/InphoThe impassive faces of Johann van Graan and Stephen Larkham were surely hiding deeper emotions. Together with JP Ferreira they are now about to saddle up and leave town - perhaps not to a fanfare of fond farewell from the Red Army, more likely under the cover of darkness.
It confirmed, too, the opinion of many that the head coach should have been cut loose when he announced his move to Bath, and Graham Rowntree installed immediately. Rowntree and his new coaching ticket we can be sure, can’t wait to get into the groove, but time has been lost, and more of it will now be needed.
Should referee Jaco Peyper have stopped the quick tap to deal with the scuffle? I’m not sure he was even aware of it, and he had not stopped play. Once upon a time, someone said ‘play to the whistle,’ another simple lesson that Munster, unlike most schoolboys in the land, hadn’t heard. Liberally sprinkled with internationals, Glasgow came to the RDS with, one must suppose, some sort of belief that they could beat Leinster. They owned the ball for the opening ten minutes, and, flattering to deceive, went seven points ahead. That was pretty much the last we saw of them. Leinster mesmerised with their speed of movement and offloading against a team who took the beating of all beatings, the 76 points conceded included 12 tries.
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