RugbyRebels

..manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Frustrating though it was, that hardly covers it. Munster dominated the whole second half, must have spent about 20 minutes in the 22 for no return, and if Os had held out for another 90 seconds it would have been one of the great defensive victories.

How on Earth it came to that, though, is a cause for more concern. Os were so completely dominant in the first quarter, it was looking embarrassing for Munster. Os turned the dominance into points too, 17-3 after 20 minutes. Munster seemed to have no answer to Os launching penetrating runners off Davies' passing, and Underhill in particular was brushing off tacklers like bothersome insects.

The game was lost in the 10 minutes before half-time, where two stupid errors in the 22 gifted Munster 5m lineouts, both of which they scored from. From what must have been about about 30% territory and 15% possession, Munster went in only 20-18 down. Ospreys barely touched the ball again. With the lead they should have had, 40 minutes of heroic defence would have been enough. It nearly was anyway.

Too much bellyaching about the ref, though. He was a pain in the arse but that match was in Os' hands.

Sourdust wrote:Frustrating though it was, that hardly covers it. Munster dominated the whole second half, must have spent about 20 minutes in the 22 for no return, and if Os had held out for another 90 seconds it would have been one of the great defensive victories.

How on Earth it came to that, though, is a cause for more concern. Os were so completely dominant in the first quarter, it was looking embarrassing for Munster. Os turned the dominance into points too, 17-3 after 20 minutes. Munster seemed to have no answer to Os launching penetrating runners off Davies' passing, and Underhill in particular was brushing off tacklers like bothersome insects.

The game was lost in the 10 minutes before half-time, where two stupid errors in the 22 gifted Munster 5m lineouts, both of which they scored from. From what must have been about about 30% territory and 15% possession, Munster went in only 20-18 down. Ospreys barely touched the ball again. With the lead they should have had, 40 minutes of heroic defence would have been enough. It nearly was anyway.

Too much bellyaching about the ref, though. He was a pain in the arse but that match was in Os' hands.

Extremely frustrating and annoying at the end. Sloppy play in the last five minutes of the first half sealed the Ospreys' doom. Their defence was stretched, but managed okay for most of the rest of the match. The ref (and TMO) could have made the difference by picking up the non-tackle on Beck and treating the (admittedly safe, but still) high tackle at the death consistently with earlier high tackles. It seemed like the ref and TMO just wanted to get the match wrapped up and go home.

I'm glad Howley was there though. Hopefully he will have noticed that Beck is playing extremely well (and distributing well at 12, a change from his usual 13), made the first try, and was extemely close to scoring twice himself. I'd say he's up with Scott Williams as the best Welsh centre, so he really ought to be in the Welsh squad. Sam Davies also played very well (no surprise at all) - the Ospreys' troubles were nothing to do with him. Keelan Giles was looking dangerous on his return - a kinder bounce would have seen him score. Can we bring him into the Welsh squad on Monday please? Dirksen looked good too, took his try well. And Baldwin was .... not so good (again no surprise).

Yeah ...Beck can be up there..but has been a bit confusing..like he is occasionally on another wavelength ...sometimes its great and sometimes..I am confused..

I like him and in The Docs present run of form..it is a fair shout .. but the question is ..does Stan !!!