It was unacceptable

It was unacceptable.”His coaching partner Dean Ryan, who admitted he takes every defeat personally, added: “Pissed off just about sums it up for me.” The error count was unacceptably high by any standards. Unfortunately Gloucester’s idea of open was applied more to their defence than to their attacking philosophy.At times their actions were brainless, other times merely thoughtless. “We didn’t play,” a shell-shocked Nigel Melville, the Gloucester director of rugby, said “We didn’t even play the way we said we’d play. Improbable, maybe, but not impossible.But as it turned out they could not even get on to the scoresheet, the first time that has happened since February 1993 when they failed to get a point against Bath in a league match.At least they can take credit for managing to keep out Stade for the whole of the second half The last score came in the 36th minute. Thereafter the French side found themselves some opposition, although there was never any real threat to their line, because each time Gloucester got remotely close something or other would thwart them.There was no surprise that the match was a sell-out – the only surprise was that so many of the home supporters stayed on after half-time.On paper it promised to be an open, expansive game. Gloucester’s European campaign ended in abysmal and humiliating failure after they were sent crashing to defeat in their final Pool Six match of the Heineken Cup by a lively Stade Fran?s.

They not only had to beat Stade, they had to score at least four tries to pick up a bonus point, ensure that the margin of victory was in excess of eight points and score two tries more than the hugely efficient French side. Gloucester look as vulnerable there as they do away from home.Admittedly the task confronting them, if they had wanted to qualify for the knock-out stages (which they did not want judging by this inept display) was next to impossible. The bookies are likely to make the national League One side Bristol favourites on the strength of this showing.The Cherry and Whites had entered yesterday’s game never having lost a European match at home, but the tag “Fortress Kingsholm” is just so much history now. Munster: Tries Horgan, Leamy; Conversion Burke; Penalties Burke 2.Harlequins: G Duffy (T Williams, 59); U Monye, D James, M Deane, S Keogh; A Dunne (J Staunton, 54), S So’oialo; C Jones, A Tiatia, J Dawson, K Rudzki (R Winters, 39), S Miall, N Easter (C Dott, 39-47), T Diprose (capt), L Sherriff.Munster: C Cullen; S Payne, M Mullins, R Henderson, A Horgan; P Burke, P Stringer; M Horan (G McIlwham, 28-31), F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, A Quinlan, A Foley (capt; J Williams, 73), D Leamy.Referee: J Jutge (France)..

The Rugby Football Union receive an operations fee and a share of the profit. However Evans, presiding over the Premiership’s bottom team, continues to insist capital costs have no effect on recruitment. To bring in the 29-year-old Springbok scrum-half Dave von Hoesslin ,Quins have loaned out the flanker Maama Molitika.Harlequins: Try Monye; Conversion Dunne; Penalty Dunne. In France and England the Test players are likely to rejoin their clubs on the Six Nations “gap” weekends.Not that Munster’s problems end there. They are a team in transition, but they could have done more to press home the advantage achieved in the first half through tries by the wing Anthony Horgan and the flanker Denis Leamy.Asked to sum up the Irish province’s chances of winning their first European Cup, now that they are in a seventh straight quarter-final, Quins’ coach Mark Evans said: “They do not have enough pace in the back five to win it. They’re a very good side with the best line-out in Europe, but they have no pace.”For Quins it was a remarkable afternoon, financially at least.