Donal Lenihan: Munster tyros living the dream in red

Scott Buckley wouldn’t have made anything like the impact he did without his exposure to the AIL. Yet key personnel in the IRFU’s rugby department continue to look down their noses at this level of rugby

Munster’s Scott Buckley celebrates after scoring a try with Conor Murray and Daniel Okeke during the Heineken Champions Cup clash at the Coventry Building Society Arena. This was a day all six starting European debutants will look back on and treasure for the rest of their playing days, regardless of what happens from here. Picture: Dan Sheridan

The old adage of “one man’s pain is another’s gain” held true for a whole cohort of aspiring Munster rugby players who were handed the golden ticket to represent their province on the European stage in Coventry last Sunday.

Sport is full of incidences where someone is plucked from relative obscurity only to produce something special. Just think back to the 1991 PGA Championship when John Daly, in his first season on the full tour, was called in as the ninth reserve and went on to win his first major.