Munster away was always going to be a difficult one. They are building a good young side and this Osprey squad is carrying too many weak links to be seriously competitive in these types of games.
So again it was all about learning which players will fit the game plan Booth is developing and which will not. Balanced sensible recruitment will be as important as competent coaching in returning the Ospreys to being a competitive squad at this level. The one comfort we can take so far is that two of the summer recruits, the outstanding Matt Protheroe and the promising Rhys Davies look like keepers at this level, as do young players like Will Griffiths Dewi Lake and Harri Morgan.
It was noticeable that neither Ifan Phillips nor Gareth Thomas, so effective in cameos from the bench, when put in in starting roles were underpowered against top level pro power. Both are worthy squad players in relief but are not going to challenge as regular top 23 starters at this level. Unless our front five can gain some degree of domination our unbalanced and slow back row will struggle against the athletic back rowers that the Irish teams seem to be overloaded with. Our best back rowers are all blind sides and not surprisingly we are being killed in the open field and at the breakdown.
Our attack continues to show glimpses of some good patterns and what may be to come if we can build momentum but our defence was easily overpowered at the fringes at key times in the game, and our defending of the line out maul and drive was very poorly organised. They found it very easy to defend our maul and were far superior technically in that area.
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