“For a pre-season game, learning about people, it was invaluable” | Graham Rowntree reflects on Munster’s pre-season opener

Munster were beaten 28-19 against Gloucester in their first pre-season game on Friday.

Graham Rowntree took charge of his first game as Munster head coach last Friday as his team were defeated by Premiership side Gloucester.

It was a tough start to life for Rowntree with the first half ending 21-0 in Gloucester’s favour as they ran riot against his side. The second half, however, was a different story with his side notching three tries just coming up short in the end.

Nonetheless, Rowntree was able to oversee the debuts of a number of exciting prospects with Senior Cup winner Ruadhan Quinn particularly eye-catching with a fantastic try in his first appearance for the province.

The Englishman was able to take plenty of positives from the game and was very impressed with his side’s response in the second half.

“The second half I’m delighted with, we won the second half I think it was 19-7? What does that say about our lads we kept playing at the end there some big standout performances so for a pre-season game, learning about people, it was invaluable.

“We’ve had a good look at a lot of players there, you know in a white hot environment, proper tested our breakdown. [For] a pre-season game that’s exactly what you want to see where we’re at, we’ve got loads of stuff we can look at and work on for next week.”

Friday’s match was a first Munster appearance for a number of players, including Malakai Fekitoa who joined from Wasps in February. His debut was much-anticipated by fans and Rowntree was very pleased with the Tongan’s performance.

“Classy, hands, aggression, that tackle he made, wow! He’s been great, been great around the environment, great for the young lads he’s given his experience every day, incredible condition as well so I think we saw tonight glimpses of exactly what we’ve got.”

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Rowntree’s side will be in action again this Friday as his side take on London Irish in another pre-season friendly at Musgrave Park.