Murray: It was Munster-Leinster and we didn't show up

Conor Murray says that the Munster team review following their URC loss to Leinster was the toughest of the season.

By any standards, the 2006 and 2008 Heineken Cup champions have had an unusual year.

Between a Covid-19 disrupted trip to South Africa, a slew of coaching and player departure announcements, a second season-ending injury for big-name signing RG Snyman, and a heartbreaking place-kicking shootout loss to Toulouse, Johann van Graan's side have been on a rollercoaster ride.

When a second-string Leinster team beat them 35-25 to deny Munster even the comfort of a home quarter-final, it felt like a new low.

Asked about the post-match meetings following their two last games, Murray admitted that the Leinster post-mortem was not pretty.

"[They were] very different," the Ireland scrum-half told RTÉ Sport.

"Against Toulouse, we really performed. Now there were areas of the game where we probably weren't happy with.

"We could have put a bit more of a score on it and not let it down to 24-14 up and conceded.

"The Toulouse one was emotionally a tough review but in terms of rugby it was probably a little bit easier because we did an awful lot right.

"The Leinster game last week was a tougher one from a rugby point of view where we just didn’t play like we had been playing all year.

"It’s one of the games that stands out. It was very unlike us, it was a game littered with mistakes in terms of turnovers and ultimately losing the physical batter.

"We lost the breakdown and found it very hard to get front-foot ball at times and that made things really difficult to get across the park so probably came back to were we up for it physically and emotionally and mentally, we were asking ourselves those questions.

"We had a really good review.