WATCH | Improvement will take time according to Kyriacou and Patterson as Munster prepare for Dragons

Munster fell to defeat against Cardiff in their URC opener last Saturday.

Munster will be looking to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat as they prepare to face Dragons in the second round of the URC this Sunday at 3pm.

Saturday’s affair was a relatively tight encounter, with Munster leading the game with just over ten minutes to go but buckled under the Cardiff pressure and conceded a penalty and a try, with the score finishing 20-13.

It’s been a rocky start to life for Graham Rowntree since he was appointed as the Munster head coach, with three losses from three games, two of which coming in pre-season with Saturday’s defeat being his first competitive game in charge.

However, Andi Kyriacou, who is a part of Rowntree’s coaching staff believes the side needs time to embed the new philosophies from the coaching staff insisting that they’ve already seen improvement from day one.

“In terms of the team side of things, it’s going to take some time for us to bed these things in. The great thing about it is we’ve got a good long week now to put right some of those things, work on it, keep improving so our performance improves at the weekend.”

“Even with the areas we’ve highlighted that we need to improve, we always were at any point in touching distance of taking the game, for a win, away from home which was very pleasing and that’s what I was touching on before of how well we stuck in the fight. These things are important, so if we’re not going to win, we’ve got to make sure we’re coming away with a losing bonus point.”

Scrum-half Paddy Patterson was a part of the losing Munster side on Friday but is confident of his coach’s ability and has already seen a difference in his role for the side.

“I’ve always loved the running game but my role has probably changed a bit this season with Prendy (Mike Prendergast) coming in, the onus is very much on getting in and moving the ball as quick as possible, so quick breakdowns, moving the ball, moving the point of contacts, so I’d say I’m trying to work on that.”

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Munster play Dragons in the second round of the 2022/23 URC this Sunday at 3pm.