The overriding feeling leaving Limerick on Saturday evening was that Munster have no option next weekend but to combat this hugely intimidating ASM Clermont Auvergne pack with their own sulphuric ways. Anthony Foley conceded that his pack had been beaten into submission.
He came out with that rarest of comments from a Munster coach on a European night in Thomond Park: “We lost the physical battle.”
There was a begrudging respect out of Foley for the way Clermont waded through this brutal and thoroughly enjoyable spectacle. It’s the only way any visiting teams have escaped a European night in this part of the rugby world.
Harlequins did it in a Challenge Cup semi-final, Leicester Tigers in a largely irrelevant European tie. This one mattered. Unlike Toulouse last season, they so obviously came in search of a fight.
“But I think we can turn it around,” said the rookie coach as Sunday’s return leg at Stade Marcel Michelin looms.
Clermont have only been beaten once in modern times in their home ground, with Castre ending their 77-game unbeaten run last May.
True to the badge
The atmosphere is like Thomond Park on steroids.
“We’re not going to throw in any towel. We’ll give it our best shot and make sure we stay fighting. We need to stay true to the badge we wear. It’s not a great feeling at the moment. We need to rectify that.
“It’s an unbelievably hard place to go. I’ve played there a couple of times. The crowd will be in behind them. Similar to what you expect when you come here as an away side. Our crowd was in the game today, but unfortunately we couldn’t aid them in getting a better performance out of ourselves.
“We know the way that they went about going after us. We need to sit down and study how we’d like to go after them. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t show a whole pile today. We need to make sure we understand how important the ball is and then apply pressure on them.”
Foley harked back to the scrappy desire for every loose ball against Saracens, when he signalled out Andrew Conway for praise only to drop him here.
And doesn’t believe Clermont are a different monster to the other established packs Munster have overcome this season.
“That’s today. We took on Saracens here, we’ve taken on Leinster in the Aviva. You can take things in isolation, that’s fine.
“But when you look at things over a period of time, what went right for us in the past, when we were sharper and used the ball well, we just didn’t do that today.
Made hay
“We coughed up ball when we had them in corners. Any ball that bounced, they got it and we would have made hay with that. We lost the physical battle because they were on the front foot. We need to turn that around.”
He was also disappointed with the officiating, particularly the manner in which Peter O’Mahony was repeatedly targeted for physical punishment. “We would have seen that as dangerous play. Some weeks you try to kick a ball you get two weeks for your troubles,” said Foley, speaking in the context of Donncha O’Callaghan two-week ban for kicking Ulster’s Stuart Olding
“Things that are deemed reckless one week are not deemed reckless the next. It is frustrating, but we’ll get on with it. I know he [referee Wayne Barnes] said on the pitch it isn’t tennis, but dangerous play is dangerous play.”
Clermont captain Damien Chouly was the hero at the death for the French side, stealing a Munster lineout five metres from the line in the last play of the game. "I saw that Paul O'Connell called on him the two last lineouts so I told the guys to lift me," he said very matter-of-factly.
“It’s a great achievement but we know they will be even more angry next week. We have to be ready for that.”
