Munster head coach Johann van Graan refused to take the positives out of his side’s agonising 16-15 defeat to Leinster in their Pro14 semi-final.
Keith Earls and Gerbrandt Grobler touched down for Munster in the second half with JJ Hanrahan kicking a penalty and Ian Keatley a conversion but it wasn’t enough.
And Van Graan acknowledged his side will need to drastically improve in the off-season if they are to match the standards set by their domestic rivals.
“I’ve come in the middle of November so we’ll take our time,” Van Graan said.
“Our planning for pre-season is well underway and we said from day one we’re not going to change a lot in the first six months.
“We moved our plan a bit forward like I think you saw today. Obviously execution is something we want to work on and we know we got very close to the two teams who played the Champions Cup final.
“It was a five point game and a one point game. It’s one score in it and all credit to the players for trying until the end. That’s rugby unfortunately. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it goes against you.
“We want to improve. Leinster are currently the trend setters in Europe and we see they are the team to beat. It is very disappointing. There is nothing bittersweet in this.
“But you’ve got to give credit where it’s due and move on.”
Peter O’Mahony turned down the option of a shot at goal with 13 minutes left on the clock when there was five points between the two sides.
Leinster went on to win a huge turnover through James Tracy a couple of phases later as the game slipped away despite building momentum from the visitors.
But O’Mahony felt it was his side’s execution that ultimately let them down on the day.
“They’re setting the standard in Europe and in this competition,” O’Mahony said.
“We said we’d leave nothing out here and we didn’t. There were inaccuracies there which luckily for us are things we can fix.
“If we had come out here and rolled over that would have been a different story – that’s something you can’t fix. We fought to the end.
“You go eight points down and then go score a try under the posts. It gives us another shot to win the game and it takes a lot of mental ability and strength to do that.
“But we can’t let an eight point gap happen – it’s too big.”
Written by James Hopper
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