Fired-up Foley’s call to arms
Foley skippers a Munster side containing eight players involved with Ireland over the past month or so and while he accepts that the games against South Africa and Argentina were quite exhausting, he also insists these are the kinds of matches Munster players have always looked forward to and contested to the best of their ability. Munster enjoy a point lead over Castres after two matches but this clash and the return game at Thomond Park tomorrow week will almost certainly be decisive in determining the winners of Pool 4.
Castres won at home against Neath-Swansea Ospreys, picking up a bonus point in the process, and drew with Harlequins at The Stoop while Munster emerged narrow victors over ‘Quins and the Ospreys. The near certainty is that little will separate the sides in this, their seventh Heineken Cup meeting.
“Anything that might have been said or done by their captain Mario Ladesma at the dinner after last week’s match is not an issue at all,” insisted Foley. “We’re just focused on the game. It’s always very difficult to win in France so all our thoughts are geared on getting the best out of ourselves. We’ve been through this kind of situation before.
“It is pretty intimidating to play here but the good thing is we have a very experienced squad and sometimes it’s just a matter of drawing on that experience. Playing in this kind of atmosphere isn’t something you get every week. I love the atmosphere. You get a great buzz out of it. Once you get used to it and know it’s the norm over here, I think every player looks forward to it.”
Grinding out results in France over teams like Toulouse, Stade Francais, Bourgoin, Colomiers and, of course, Castres has become a familiar pattern with the Munster pack and also half-backs Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer. It helps, too, that O’Gara is probably in the best form of his career.
Without parity at the very least up front, however, leaving Castres with a result might be a very tall order.
Castres have an enormous pack and will enjoy an appreciable weight advantage. Flankers, Alexander Bias and Rodrigo Capo Ortega each stands 6 ft 5 ins and not one of the eight weighs in at less than 15 stone with Ledesma the lightest at a “mere” 15-5.
With so much history between the sides and Castres all out to avenge their semi-final defeat in the 2002 semi-finals at nearby Beziers, the incentive for the home team could hardly be greater.
Munster are fully aware of that and insist they are ready to meet the challenge. Alan Gaffney accepts they didn’t play very well last week in Edinburgh but adds that “we are pretty much in form. We are creating opportunities and there’s a great buzz in the camp now with the nationals back.
“We’ve had only two sessions this week but everything went great with the contribution by all 38 players quite immense whether they were in the 22 or not.”
Nevertheless, Castres have been playing an almost full-strength and unchanged team for the past month or so with very few international calls on their players. That must give them some kind of advantage although it’s something that clearly doesn’t bother Anthony Foley who to me looks more animated and eager than at any time in his illustrious career.
“I can’t wait to get out again,” he declared. “When you’re winning the whole time, you really look forward to playing. Being away from the lads for four weeks and seeing how they’ve been putting the results together, it makes you want to get back even quicker.
“It was more difficult coming back last year because you had to try and lift the squad but this time everybody is literally floating. All the national guys feel the same. We’ve been dying to get into the season. We had ten weeks pre-season that has obviously been great for us but now that we’re playing games, nobody wants to be left out. Just look at our situation in the back-row, you don’t want to be left out because you don’t want anybody else getting a chance in your position. It might be a long rest you’re getting.”
Gaffney yesterday went down a predictable route when naming David Wallace on the openside flank with Denis Leamy ruled out by injury. Alan Quinlan will warm the bench for an hour or so before joining the fray while Shaun Payne has pipped Mike Mullins for the second centre spot and Mossy Lawler replaces the injured John Kelly on the right wing. Notables like out-half Yann Delaigue, flanker Romain Froment and goal kicker Richard Dourthe are out of the Castres starting line-up for one reason or another.
While the forward battle is certain to be very tense and much will depend on how referee Nigel Whitehouse handles the situation in the cauldron that is sure to be the Stade Pierre Antoine, the feeling is that Foley and company will more than hold their own. If so, O’Gara and Stringer will have the kind of platform on which they invariably thrive. There will be reservations about the threequarter line as long as they struggle to score tries and in spite of some fine displays in the Celtic League, we still have to see the best of Christian Cullen in Europe.
While it is sure to be a fierce confrontation, the verdict must go to Munster because, quite simply, man for man, they are better equipped - and also because the X factor (in other words, the travelling red army), will be there in force to cheer them on. How can you let down people like these?
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