Munster head coach Graham Rowntree believes they “have to be better” as they turn their attentions to the United Rugby Championship following their Champions Cup elimination.
The Irish province were utterly outplayed by the Sharks in Durban as they shipped 50 points to the South African outfit.
At the one stage, Munster were 50-21 in arrears before they scored two late tries to put a better look on the scoreline.
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Focus back on the URC
“Technically, tactically, we have got to be better. We’ll go back and look at that third quarter of the game because things got away from us straight after the two maul tries. (We’re) hugely disappointed, as you’d imagine,” Rowntree said.
“Three-point game at half-time, then quickly got away from us, the game got even looser as we’re chasing. The team can score tries, we’ve proven that, but I’ve just said to the lads there now, we’re back down here in three weeks.
“We’ve got a taste of what it is to come to this club and this town, and we’ll go back and analyse this game and see where we can do better.
“The conditions were challenging, we are not used to this weather, but towards the end of the game we were chasing the game, scoring tries and I was pleased with our energy.
“We’re a tight group, a tight group. We will get back to Limerick, lick our wounds, pull the game apart and look at the things we can be better at because we’ve got to move forward. We are back down here in the URC; we’ve got to learn from it and move forward.”
Sharks look ahead to quarter-finals
Rowntree’s mood was in contrast to the Sharks, who are looking forward to a Champions Cup quarter-final with five-time winners Toulouse.
Director of rugby Neil Powell was pleased with his side’s performance but knows that they need to be even better this weekend.
“We all know that when you get into the knockout stages you have got to be more accurate,” Powell said.
“This is the first year we have been part of it, so we are trying to create a bit of hype, a bit of culture around being part of the European championship.
“Luckily we have experience in our coaching staff. Yannick Bru was involved with Toulouse when they won the European Cup and also Noel McNamara was part of the academy at Leinster and understands how much emphasis those teams put on the Champions Cup.
“We have really tried to create a vibe and energy and a bit of a culture around this, but we know the closer you get to the final the more difficult it is going to be.”