Savvy Irish back on track
Ulster were very unlucky to lose out at the death to Edinburgh at Murrayfield while Connacht had a magnificent win away to Montpellier in the Amlin Challenge Cup.
The Scarlets did Leinster a huge favour by beating London Irish at the Madejski Stadium to repair some of the damage from the champions’ opening loss at the RDS. Indeed, against all odds, it’s the Scarlets, struggling in the Magners League, who now sit unbeaten on top of Pool 6.
That, however, will not concern Leinster for the time being, as they negotiated a difficult trip to France and looked every bit champions in disposing of an admittedly poor Brive team. It was the manner of their win that will please Michael Cheika. Despite playing in the hostile environment of Stade Parc Municipal de Sports, it was the visitors that dictated the tempo and direction of this game.
The decision to start Nathan Hines in the back row and recall Malcolm O’Kelly meant that Leinster fielded a massive pack which enabled them to dominate the lineout, an area that created so many problems for them against the Exiles.
With their scrum also rock solid – Cian Healy and Mike Ross doing their prospects of inclusion in Declan Kidney’s squad for the forthcoming internationals no harm – Leinster had the perfect platform to showcase their skills behind the scrum. The opening try from Rob Kearney demonstrated that they even have the creativity to score off slow ball. The quick hands of Luke Fitzgerald and Brian O’Driscoll were a joy to watch.
The impressive thing about the reigning champions at the moment is that they now have the facility to play a tight physical game orchestrated by a quality forward unit up front to augment the silken skills of some world class backs. As a result travelling to historically demanding venues in southern France no longer impairs their ability to perform.
To win by a margin of 23 points also demonstrates that Leinster had the ability to park the disappointment of their opening day home defeat as they now contemplate what will be crucial back to back games against the high flying Scarlets when pool activity resumes in December.
After 20 minutes in Limerick, with Munster rocked to the core and trailing by 10 points to Treviso, a deafening silence descended on Thomond Park. At that stage few dared to predict not only a bonus point win for Munster, but also that Tony McGahan’s men would bag seven tries which could prove crucial when the teams are finally separated in Pool 1 next January. For the brave Italians to trail by two points at the break was a travesty given what they brought to the table in the opening half.
Not for the first time, a crucial try on the stroke of half time was orchestrated by the bravery of Ronan O’Gara. Only last week he opened his heart and admitted that he still has sleepless nights surrounding the sequence of events that shaped the final few minutes of the Lions’ second test in Pretoria. Yet when offered a penalty opportunity, with the clock already in injury time, O’Gara as always backed his gut instinct and the belief that Munster could score. Spurning the opportunity for three points he tapped and went, resulting in an acrobatic try for Ian Dowling off a brave kick from Paul Warwick.
It was one of two key moments that shaped the outcome of Saturday’s Pool 1 fixture. The other was of even greater importance and highlighted exactly what people mean when they talk about a player playing through the pain barrier. When yet another Munster attacking sequence broke down as Warwick attempted a switch with Keith Earls, Munster were in big trouble. Despite the fact that Doug Howlett had just pulled his hamstring and was in obvious discomfort, he struggled 40 metres to save a certain try under serious pressure from Alberto Sgarbi. He even engineered that Munster did not concede a five metre scrum. Given the difficulties they were experiencing in that department it was just as well. But for the commitment of the New Zealander, Munster could well have gone 17 points in arrears and anything could have happened. Grimacing in pain Howlett was forced to depart the scene. Don’t ever say the imports don’t put their bodies on the line for the cause.
The fact that Munster were in difficulty early on was due primarily to falling into the annoying trap of going too wide too soon. At times the skills they produced was akin to watching the Harlem Globetrotters and while entertaining to watch, remained ineffective once again, as their error count was far too high.
The narrow lead at the break offered an opportunity to reassess and the net result from the half time pause was a return to basics – be direct, play territory and punish a willing but vulnerable opposition. Denis Leamy’s try two minutes into the second half, a product of a traditional lineout maul, signalled confirmation that a recovery was on the cards. When Jean de Villiers finished the scoring spree at the death, phase one of Munster’s Heineken Cup campaign was well and truly back on track.
THE fact that Perpignan beat Northampton on Friday with neither side registering a bonus point capped a good weekend from Munster’s perspective. Yet Tony McGahan will know that his side are not yet firing on all cylinders and there’s much work to be done. Once again the scrum was under all kinds of pressure in the opening half. The likes of John Hayes are never fully appreciated until they are missing. While there was a marked improvement in terms of defensive organisation, there were still some scary moments which would have been punished by a more potent attack.
In many respects, the most pleasing aspect was the impact from players off the bench with Ian Dowling, Julian Brugnaut, Denis and Darragh Hurley all making notable contributions. In addition the class and wizardry that Paul Warwick delivers from full back gives Munster an extra dimension. His kicking game perfectly augments that of O’Gara and offers Munster a multitude of options. Keith Earls has also reason to be pleased with his contribution, with his pace, lines of running and support magnificent at times. With just two Magners League games on the cards prior to the autumn internationals, Munster must continue to build momentum from this point onwards.
