Munster's Tadhg Beirne said, with the benefit of hindsight, he should have done things differently against Bath. Photograph: Dan Clohessy/Inpho

Munster’s review after their 40-14 defeat on Saturday night will concentrate on an internal stocktake of mishaps, from the inadvertent to the controllable. The latter included lineout woes, a scrum issue here and there, losing the aerial contest and some game-play decisions in the Bath 22 that won’t stand up well to scrutiny.

The scoreboard casts a harsh light on Munster’s endeavours but doesn’t tell the full story. Munster lost Jean Kleyn (personal reasons) and Michael Milne (injured in the warm-up), brought Jeremy Loughman and Edwin Edogbo into the team and the Wycherley brothers, Josh and Fineen, on to the bench.

What they needed in the circumstances was a hardnosed, focused and accurate opening to a Champions Cup match that started in torrential rain.

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