Donal Lenihan: Munster must feel like those Cork footballers listening to Mick O’Dwyer sing their praises

High-flying Toulouse are just about the last team Munster would choose to face after the disappointment of last weekend

Wed, 31 Mar, 2021 - 14:29

Before looking back on Munster’s disappointing defeat in Saturday’s Guinness PRO14 final, a last word on the Six Nations. The Welsh disappointment at losing out on a Grand Slam to a Brice Dulin try in added time will have been tempered by the addition of the Championship trophy to the Triple Crown they secured against England a few weeks ago.

Unpredictability is the word that comes to mind when describing one of the most enjoyable tournaments I can remember. Despite the lack of supporters the excitement surrounding all the matches, with the exception of those involving Italy, was at fever pitch throughout.

CVC Capital Partners must be pretty chuffed with their newly-acquired 14.3% stake of the best annual tournament international rugby has to offer.

Just how much better will things be when the games are played out in packed stadia?

The likelihood that at least some of the championship may remain on terrestrial television, after huge speculation that it would be entirely pay-per-view, is brilliant for the casual rugby fan who tunes in every year when their first sport of choice is in closed season.

In the UK, the BBC and ITV have been attracting audiences averaging 8.7 million people for games. The rugby authorities know they have to be extremely careful not to take that viewership for granted in the certainty that, if the tournament disappears behind a paywall, the audience would fall to a tiny fraction of that. With the new broadcast deal due to be announced in the coming weeks, we will watch that space with interest.

Once again Wales proved that the failure of their district sides to make any impact in Europe or even in the Guinness PRO14 is no barometer for how their players will perform once they don the cherished red jersey.

They may have rode their luck in the early rounds of the championship but with 20 tries — France scored 18, Ireland only 12 — their consistent ability to deliver five or seven pointers at key moments in all the games, proved the difference. Overall it has been a fantastic seven weeks of championship action.

And so we switch to the RDS. Munster must be sick at the sight of Leinster these days.

Unpalatable as it may be for everyone involved, Leinster have their measure at the moment. What could Johann van Graan say to the players in the dressing in the aftermath of this latest defeat?

Thinking about that driving home from Dublin on Saturday evening, my mind drifted back to an embarrassing defeat to England in a Five Nations encounter in Twickenham. It was the famous day Chris Oti scored a hat-trick of tries and Swing Low was born.

My abiding memory of that dressing room was of our coach, the late Jimmy Davidson, attempting to pick us up by reminding everyone that we had the unique opportunity of putting things right in a few weeks time as Ireland were due to play England again in a special game to mark the Millennium. Let’s just say that prospect didn’t exactly float our boat in the bowels of Twickenham at that moment in time.

The fixtures for the Rainbow Cup, a tournament to mark the arrival of the four new South African teams prior to their introduction to the Guinness PRO16 from next season, were announced last week.

And the first game up for Munster? Leinster at the RDS on April 24. After the events of last weekend, the last thing Munster need right now is a fifth meeting with Leinster in eight months.

Despite everything they have achieved over the last decade, nothing appears to excite Leinster more than the prospect of keeping Munster firmly positioned in their rearview mirror.

Perhaps it’s the fact that, more often than not, they can beat everyone else in the league at a canter.

It’s a bit like the way Mick O’Dwyer would enter a Cork dressing after another Munster final victory for the Kingdom over their great rivals and remind the vanquished that they could take solace from the fact that they were probably the second-best team in the country. Leinster know how to go about negating Munster’s strengths while sticking to what they do best.

While Munster have been competitive in all the recent derbies since rugby returned after the first lockdown in August, last Saturday’s defeat was the most damaging.

Firstly, it was in a final. Secondly, at a time when it appeared as if the gap between the sides was closing, Leinster seized their chance on the big stage to remind everyone down south that Munster still have a journey to travel.

You always know in advance which stalwarts are going to leave Leinster at the end of the season as they are the ones entrusted with lifting the spoils on the winner’s podium. This time out it looks as if Michael Bent, Scott Fardy, and Devin Toner are the highest-profile players likely to depart the scene based on Saturday’s acceptance of the PRO14 trophy.

With the tournament expanding to 16 teams next season perhaps, like when Brazil were allowed keep the Jules Rimet trophy after winning it for a third time at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Leinster should do likewise. After four in a row, they have earned it.

The fact that Fardy and Toner — whose performance on Saturday highlighted once again the folly of not bringing him to the World Cup in Japan — are either retiring or moving to pastures new, means the path is now cleared for Ryan Baird to join forces with James Ryan and forge yet another formidable second-row pairing capable of driving Leinster forward for years to come.

Leinster’s steady production of quality forwards is frightening given that their traditional offerings to the international squad encompassed a stream of gifted backs.

With their development programmes extending way beyond the Pale, into the youth systems and clubs across a range of Leinster counties, they have an embarrassment of riches.

For Munster, it’s very much a case of back to the drawing board. Right now, high-flying Toulouse are just about the last team you would choose to face after the disappointment of last weekend.

That said, it’s probably not a bad thing. There’s no time for moping around and feeling sorry for yourself.

If Munster go into this last-16 contest in Europe without a clear vision of how they are going to beat Toulouse, they can forget about it.

At least the game is in Thomond Park, even if the stands and terraces will be eerily quiet on occasions such as this when that stadium usually springs to life. It was built for days like this. At a time when the players are in need of a lift, stepping out on that hallowed turf to a raucous reception and an electric atmosphere would help in bridging any gulf in class between the two sides.

What will hurt the Munster players most about last weekend’s defeat is that they failed to match Leinster’s intensity levels, never enjoyed any semblance of sustained pressure, and failed miserably when it came to stressing their opponents defensively.

The post-match statistics served to highlight far more graphically than the final result, a 10-point winning margin for Leinster, the difference in performance levels between the teams. Ten clean line breaks to one, 35 defenders beaten to 10, seven offloads to four, all in Leinster's favour. Munster missed 35 tackles. You just can’t afford to do that.

For a team used to coming out on top in terms of territory and possession, having to operate off meagre rations of 36% and 29% respectively proved an alien experience.

Leinster were superior in all aspects. Toulouse will have taken note.