Munster rugby’s difficulties - It’s time to make the anthem real

THERE are very few stories from the recent history of the south of Ireland as romantic, as uplifting, and as much high-octane fun, as Munster’s successful plunder-and-pillage raids against the grandees of European and British rugby.

Creating those stories enlivened the region. They also tested — and vindicated — the accuracy of imagined self-worth against stern international benchmarks.

Munster prevailed by sheer, unrelenting doggedness.