From the outside it seems a little bizarre that so much is being made of a seventh placed team's defeat at home to the league's second placed team. The bookies had Connacht open as favourites, so a Munster loss wasn't that shocking.
But so much has been made in the post-match about Munster's failings - that it's starting to feel more like a post mortem.
Munster's Champions Cup hopes are still in their hands, with the penultimate game against Edinburgh being a 'win and your in' fixture, while a loss would guarantee that the once-great conquerors of Europe a season in the Challenge Cup.
Ronan O'Gara was not a fan of Munster's performance, and let it be known in his Friday column in the Irish Examiner. O'Gara slams the attitude in the province, relating it back to the shambles in January against Stade Francais. In the aftermath of that 27-7 loss to 14-man Stade Francais, O'Gara said that the players resolved to an attitude of ‘ah we’ll sort this out’. O'Gara lambasted them for not sorting things out, culminating in that loss to Connacht:
I have seldom seen such a weak defensive performance. They talked about Connacht’s attack game — that wouldn’t have worked if Munster fellas weren’t playing tip rugby defence. There were no holes there — it was just Connacht players simply going through lads.
When the opposition want it more, you have to say ‘hold on a second lads, there is something not right’.
There is nothing wrong with the system here. It’s a bodies-on-the-line issue. Desire. It’s a strong word. When you can back it up.
While you can never doubt O'Gara's desire, his tackling career wasn't always the best. That said though, the Munster legend has made a name for himself as one of the best defensive coordinators in the Top 14.
See Also: Ronan O'Gara Has A Message Which All Of Irish Sport Needs To Heed, Not Just Rugby
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