Clayton McMillan: 'We take no satisfaction from where we sit on the table'

Edwin van der Merwe and Zekethelo Siyaya celebrate as the Sharks win in Thomond Park. Bryan Keane/INPHO

Munster sit 12th in the URC table after Saturday evening’s 15-3 defeat.

MUNSTER HEAD COACH Clayton McMillan said they need to use the November break to get their season back on track after securing just one win from their opening segment of five URC games.

Their dismal 15-3 loss at Thomond Park to a Sharks side who had only won once on a dozen previous visits to Ireland leaves Munster in the bottom half of the table with almost one-third of the URC campaign completed.

They had ample opportunities, not least in the opening half, to get the scores to back up their win over the Bulls and a draw away to Ulster.

But they lacked the accuracy to execute chances and fell to their third defeat having lost to Leinster last weekend and at home to Glasgow Warriors on the opening weekend of the season.

“It wasn’t like we hadn’t been presented with enough opportunity, just our accuracy five to ten metres out from our own line,” said McMillan. “We needed to convert those and create a bit of scoreboard pressure.

“But in essence we probably breathed a little bit of life into their game to hold us out and to go in at 5-3.

“We just weren’t quite as connected as we needed to be on a kick-chase around the length of the field and then we were chasing the game.”

McMillan said that while they were in the hunt in all other games this season in the URC, they didn’t mount a challenge this time.

“Today was the first day that we probably felt like we hadn’t put ourselves in a position to legitimately win the game, whereas in the previous four games, we had.

“So we’ve got a bit of an uphill battle, but we take a well-earned rest knowing that we’ve acquitted ourselves pretty well with a young side and lots of injured guys on the sideline.

“But we’ve got to continue to get better, and hopefully in the next few weeks, we welcome a few bodies back and that helps share the load. It’s a timely break for us, but we still got a lot of work to do.

“We take no satisfaction from where we sit on the table,” added McMillan.