Anthony Foley believes his Munster side will need to step up a few notches if they are to extend their winning start to the season to five games in a top of the table clash away with Scarlets on Friday.
His men twice came from ten points down to inflict a third defeat on Irish soil so far this season for Cardiff, but Foley was the first to acknowledge that there is massive room for improvement after this win in Cork.
“When you go back on the video there were fellas bypassing rucks that they need to go into,” Foley, the head coach, said. “And we just need to make sure that everybody is responsible for looking after the ball. And not just the ball-carrier himself but everyone.
“The nearest bodies around him need to go in and if we rectify that, keep the ball for phases and make better decisions, then we will do much better.”
Foley was pleased that Munster showed the necessary composure to get their act together and haul back big deficits, having been fortunate not to be more than 10-0 down after 24 minutes after Rhys Patchell missed three penalties.
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Tries from Mike Sherry and Ian Keatley got them back in the game but they trailed 17-14 at the break and fell further behind when Tom Isaacs added to the earlier efforts from Tavis Knoyle and Richard Smith.
Key to the comeback was the introduction of Tomas O’Leary and the former Irish scrum half made a telling contribution in his first competitive action for his home province after three seasons with London Irish.
“It was great to have Tomas back and I think everybody was kind of wondering, he hasn’t played in so long, what way he would react when he got out there,” Foley added. “Everybody was a bit nervous about that but then he goes and plays the way he did and just gives everyone confidence, and everyone around him confidence of what we have missed over the last number of weeks.
“I think Cathal [Sheridan] and Duncan [Williams] have done well but there is an experience around Tomas. He is an international scrum half. He was picked in the Lions a number of years ago. He has experience and was really looking forward to getting out there.”
Sherry’s second try got Munster back in contention and Jordan Coghlan, the new signing from Leinster, pounced when Cardiff were driven off a five-metre scrum which secured the bonus point and pushed them in front. Another former Leinster player, Andrew Conway, got Munster’s fifth try when he dashed over for a fine scorer in the left corner and Keatley, who had changed his kicking style this season, maintained his 100 per cent kicking record in the game to land his fifth conversion from the touchline to ensure that Cardiff left empty-handed.
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“It is good to be winning at home,” Foley added. “It is good to build up momentum. This is time last year we had lost a couple in the league, Ospreys beat us and Edinburgh beat us at home early on last year so it is important that we start with a solid foundation and we are doing that this year.
“But we know how hard it is going to be to go over to Scarlets. They are not as free-flowing as they were last year. They seem to be a small bit more pragmatic in what they are doing, which makes them a small bit more dangerous.
“They have a very good side and a lot of experience there again so it should be an interesting contest.”
Match facts
Scorers for Munster: Tries: Sherry (28, 53), Keatley (37), Coghlan (62), Conway (74). Conversions: Keatley (29, 38, 54, 63, 75).
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Scorers for Cardiff: Tries: Knoyle (24), R Smith (40), Isaacs (44). Conversions: Patchell (25, 40, 45). Penalty goals: Patchell (16, 71).
Scoring sequence: 0-3, 0-8, 0-10, 5-10, 7-10, 12-10, 14-10, 14-15, 14-17 (half-time), 14-22, 14-24, 19-24, 21-24, 26-24, 28-24, 28-27, 33-27, 35-27.
Munster: A Conway (D Johnston, 74); S Monahan, F Saili, R Scannell (D Hurley, 71), G van den Heever; I Keatley, D Williams (T O’Leary, 52); D Kilcoyne (J Cronin, 52), M Sherry (N Scannell, 70), BJ Botha (J Ryan, 74); M Chisholm (R Copeland, 71), D Foley; D O’Callaghan, J O’Donoghue (J Coghlan, 52), CJ Stander.
Cardiff Blues: D Fish; G Smith, T Isaacs, G Evans (G Davies, 58), R Smith; R Patchell, T Knoyle (L Jones, 77); S Hobbs (T Davies, 63), M Rees (K Dacey, 50), C Mitchell (D Lewis, 78); L Reed (M Cook, 65), J Down; J Turnbull, E Jenkins (J Groves, 52), M Vosawai.
Referee: I Davies (WRU).