Wednesday, April 23, 2008
ALL things considered it was a good weekend for Declan Kidney. Apart from the fact he appears a racing certainty to be appointed as the next Ireland coach, Munster — despite starting with only three of his likely Heineken Cup semi-final team — survived a demanding test from a near full-strength Ospreys in the Magners League at Musgrave Park.
Of even more importance was that, apart from an injury scare to Jerry Flannery, the hosts survived an intensely physical contest relatively unscathed.
While Kidney had the luxury of resting most of his key players, the remaining semi-finalists Saracens, London Irish and Toulouse have no such option with vital games in their domestic championships.
Toulouse not only endured a morale sapping 11-23 defeat at home to Clermont Auvergne, their already injury-hit squad suffered further losses with the withdrawals of Thierry Dusatoir, Vincent Clerc and Shaun Sowerby.
Dusatoir, badly concussed in the opening two minutes, will not be available Saturday, while a serious knee injury has ruled Clerc out for the rest of the season. Having already lost Clement Poitrenaud and Florian Fritz, Toulouse, even with their vast resources, are feeling the pinch.
Their semi-final opponents London Irish won a game of little quality against Harlequins (13-6) while Saracens were comprehensively beaten at home (29-40) with a first-half performance described by Alan Gaffney as "the most embarrassing I have been involved in". They did however manage to score four second-half tries, no mean feat against Wasps’ famed blitz defence.
Theoretically, all the advantages lie with Munster and London Irish. If things were only that straightforward. Semi-finals by their nature tend to be dour affairs, as teams within touching distance of the glamour and prestige that surround any final become conservative and fretful. The fear of losing is one that has stifled many a superior force at this stage of competition. That is why experience is such an important factor. Munster’s unprecedented strength in depth was once again shown to good effect Saturday night. The level of competition for places has served them well all season and one can only admire the manner in which Kidney has managed to extract the best from all his players through the campaigns.
Saracens’ defeat on Sunday means they will not qualify for the Heineken Cup next year unless they win the tournament. Alan Gaffney has been at pains to point out he is operating with one of the smallest budgets in the English Premiership, with a comparatively small squad. It certainly hasn’t helped that his two most high profile players, Chris Jack and Andy Farrell are injured — as a result, his resources are stretched to the limit. It is amazing how the fortunes of these two clubs have evolved over the years.
Munster’s first victory of any real significance on the road in Europe was the 34-35 win over an outstanding Saracens side in Vicarage Road in 1999, with a late try by Jeremy Staunton. At that stage Saracens were backboned by an outstanding pack, led by Francois Pienaar and included Lions past and future in Paul Wallace, Julian White, Danny Grewcock, Scott Murray, Richard Hill and Tony Diprose, augmented by English international George Chuter and Argentinian loose head Roberto Grau.
Munster again managed to overturn them by a point in the return fixture in Limerick. I can still recall the reaction of Pienaar and their benefactor Nigel Wray after their Thomond Park experience when commenting that this was what real rugby was all about. Having invested fortunes in creating an artificial atmosphere in London through the presence of dancing girls, motorised cars bringing the kicking tee onto the field and rock music at every break, both realised that there was no substitute for the traditional, passionate rugby supporter. Despite that defeat, they returned home enriched with the values that make the sport great.
Nine years on and the shoe is very much on the other foot, with Munster ranked as Europe’s number one side, something Gaffney himself has made a significant contribution to. The ground rules for this contest will be laid up front, where Munster’s international pack face a Saracens eight led by England’s World Cup veteran Richard Hill, one of only three survivors along with Kris Chesney and Kevin Sorrell from those encounters in the 1999/00 season.
By way of contrast, Munster will have seven in the matchday squad — John Hayes, Frankie Sheahan, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace, Anthony Foley, Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara while another, Anthony Horgan, has also featured in this year’s tournament.
The difference between the sides is probably best represented by the make up of the respective second rows. While Munster boast the most recent Lions test combination of Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan, Saracens have two honest toilers in converted back row forwards Hugh Vyvyan and Kris Chesney. Those two in particular epitomised the Saracens effort against the Ospreys with an honesty and frenzied work rate that set the tone for the other forwards.
Saracens won that quarter-final primarily because they bombarded the Welsh at the breakdown. Their unheralded back row of Paul Gustard, Ben Skirving and Hill, supplemented by the pace and commitment of the two second rows, completely outplayed Marty Holah, Dean Ryan and Jonathan Thomas. Munster will have watched and observed those lessons. In Neil De Kock and Glen Jackson, Saracens have an extremely accomplished half back pairing who will dictate play if afforded the opportunity.
MUNSTER, with such a balanced side, do have the added advantage of having played on the magnificent soccer surface at the Ricoh Arena this season, and overall have the edge in both experience and fire power.
That said, the Saracens scrum, led by disruptive tight head prop Cobus Visagie, deserves huge respect. They completely dominated the Ospreys’ international front row in the quarter-final. Marcus Horan’s timely return to action on Saturday night was most welcome and one suspects that the presence of Visagie could lead to the inclusion of Federicio Pucciariello in Kidney’s matchday squad.
The other semi-final at Twickenham has the potential to offer a feast of running rugby as both teams favour a loose, unstructured game. While Toulouse will be favoured to advance to yet another final, London Irish have the potential to cause a shock.
Their line-out has been inspirational all season and in Shane Geraghty, Topsy Ojo and Sailosi Tagicakibau, they have sufficient pace and power to push Toulouse all the way. The French have been rattled by a succession of injuries which would test the mental resolve of any squad. They will be hoping to scrape through this one and use the four-week break to the final to regroup and rehabilitate their long injury list. London Irish may just be in the right place at the right time.
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