'Not good enough' - Graham Rowntree gives Munster warning

Munster head coach Graham Rowntree admitted his side were a clear second best as they fell to their opening defeat of the season on Friday night against Ulster.

The defending BKT United Rugby Champions gave up a 14-3 first half lead against their rivals to lose 21-14 at Kingspan Stadium, as Ulster made amends for their own blown lead in an Interpro last week.

While Munster didn't actually trail until the 68th minute when Nick Timoney crossed for Ulster's second try, the hosts had been dominant for the entire second half where they controlled the breakdown, lineout and scrum, having struggled at times in the first 40 minutes.

And following their first defeat in any competition since the Champions Cup last-16 in April (v the Sharks), a frustrated Rowntree admitted it was an unacceptable performance from his side.

"We were inaccurate, sloppy, ill-disciplined," Rowntree said.

"Our ruck wasn't fast enough and that is the heartbeat of the game for us. Really disappointed. Our set-piece malfunctioned."

Despite the poor performance, the province came within inches of potentially snatching a draw when Josh Wycherley was held up over the line in the final 30 seconds of play.

But Rowntree took little consolation from the way they launched a late attack.

"Yeah, we were chasing the game at the end there, which I expect from us. We are never going to give up but we have to be better than that.

"We’re not pointing the finger at anyone else. We will have a good look at ourselves this week. That’s not good enough.

"We scored two tries early on and had some good territory early on without being brilliant. We weren't that good and we said that at half-time. There was certainly no complacency at half-time because they had already started to come back