Peter Jackson: Munster heroics needed now more than ever

Munster's Keith Earls after the game with Exeter

Should Munster revert to type and turf yet another English club out of Europe on Saturday, they will owe a debt of gratitude to the last of their old warriors.

On a day when his depleted team went perilously close to sinking without trace, Keith Earls’ enduring knack of finding a way out of the tightest corner gives them a fighting chance of proving they are still in the business of winning the big ones.

Five points down when it would have been at least twice as many had Earls not gone above and beyond duty in denying Exeter at the end leaves his native province in a position to do more than reach another quarter-final.

Not for the first time, the tournament itself is in urgent need of something special to start recovering some of the mystique and lustre lost in recent seasons. Neutrals remembering the event as it used to be before the organisers began tinkering with its format will appreciate that when it comes to theatrics, there is nothing to touch Thomond Park.

Exeter will relish the experience but those concerned that the Heineken Cup no longer reaches the parts it used to, would have been demoralised by the first offering at lunchtime on Saturday.

Sale versus Bristol was so dire that any boy or girl who had never been to a game of rugby union before would have been driven by sheer boredom into a damning request: ‘Please dad, don’t take me to another rugby game.’

It amounted to nothing more than a convincing advertisement for rugby league. No wonder union in England remains such a hard sell north of Leicester, except that this was supposed to be the Champions’ Cup, the crème de la crème.

There seems no limit to the lengths the organisers will go to copy the Champions’ League; the title itself, the two-leg Round of 16 home and away, referees pausing on the touchline like their soccer counterparts to take the ball off its pedestal.

Shame about the lack of skill.

Stripped of seven internationals because of injury and sickness, Munster were not in the best of shape to repair the damage done to the game by the all-English tie. By half-time, they looked in no shape at all, hence coach Graham Rowntree laying the law down in an understandably agitated state.

Judging by what ensued, his rollicking had the desired effect, thanks in no small way to Jack O’Donoghue’s towering leadership. What had been a no-contest turned into a thriller, with home advantage to come.

Making it count by six points or more will put Earls into his ninth quarter-final on the strength of a 16th home win in 17 matches against English opponents since he began 14 years ago.

Munster heroics needed now more than ever.

Belfast holds few fond memories for Toulouse

Toulouse's Thibaud Flament is tackled by Iain Henderson and Andrew Warwick of Ulster

Andrew Warwick would be the first to agree that there is nothing flashy about his work — an old-school prop who keeps his head down and the scrum up as per the grunt ’n’ groan coaching manual.

The loosehead from Ballymena has been so reluctant to break from the supporting cast for so long that his tries for Ulster come once every seven years. By doubling his career tally from one to two, the man they call ‘Waz’ has left Toulouse in some danger of losing their most treasured possession.

The holders start again this Saturday night six points down at a venue which many of their finest players have found too tough even when starting on level terms. It can be said without fear of
contradiction that Belfast has never been one of Toulouse’s favourite stamping grounds.

Their dislike of the place goes all the way back to their visit for a quarter-final on a wet, cold Friday night before the end of the 20th century. Since losing that one, little has changed in the 21st,
despite Ulster’s almost sacrilegious sacrifice of the name Ravenhill in return for a fistful of dollars.

The season after Leinster famously stripped them of their European title in 2006, Toulouse lost in Belfast by 27 points. Six seasons ago their constellation of superstars — Clement Poitrenaud, Vincent Clerc, Gael Fickou, Thierry Dusautoir, Louis Picamoles, Yacoubra Camara, to name but a few — lost 38-0.

Two of that Ulster starting XV, centre Stuart McCloskey and lock Alan O’Connor, will be itching to finish the job this weekend. The same goes for Rob Herring, Rory Best’s hooking substitute in
December 2015, and one of his front-row sidekicks, ‘Waz’.

At 31, he’s been around long enough to know that six points amount to flimsy
insurance against losing the tie and a home quarter-final, all the more so if Toulouse keep all 15 on the field.

What will the last eight look like?

Leicester and La Rochelle are as good as in the last eight as the two biggest inners of the weekend, the Tigers by 19 points at Clermont, Ronan O’Gara’s French creation by 18 at Bordeaux.

Six away wins mean that all but two of the home teams for this weekend’s return ties start with a lead. The exceptions are Munster and Harlequins, 14 down to Montpellier.

Predicting the quarter-finals is a mug’s business but, if the lessons of history are anything to go by in Munster’s case, then the last eight will offer some mighty duels:

Predictions: Leinster v Leicester, Ulster v Munster, Racing v Bristol, Montpellier v La Rochelle.

Drop goals no longer endangered

As a weapon used to devastating effect in settling two World Cup finals, the drop goal has been shamefully neglected by so many for so long.

Joel Stransky showed the way, his high and handsome strike at Ellis Park winning the first extra-time final for South Africa eight years before Jonny Wilkinson’s low and ugly wobbler did the same for England in Sydney.

In between, the first six Heineken Cup finals all featured a drop, from Thomas Castaignede for Toulouse against Cardiff in 1996 to Diego Dominguez in a losing cause for Stade Français against Leicester five years later. Since then it has steadily fallen out of fashion.

Sightings in the Champions Cup this season have been almost as rare as Rory McIlroy in a Green Jacket at Augusta.

Until shortly before sunset on Saturday, Jack Carty had the stage to himself, with the only drop in Europe’s premier club event, for Connacht at Leicester before Christmas.

Munster can only hope that Stuart Hogg’s long-range missile won’t matter once the final reckoning is made in Limerick come Saturday afternoon.

Gibson-Park can count himself fortunate

Jamison Gibson-Park escaped a red card against Connacht because Karl Dickson ruled that the “degree of force” behind his shoulder to Kieran Marmion’s face was low enough to let Ireland’s No 9 off with a yellow.

Given the state of his nose and the spattering of blood, Marmion hardly looked as though he was about to congratulate the English referee on his verdict.

The most revealing part of the episode came when Dickson told his two assistant referees that there wasn’t “a high level of danger”. Neither appeared to say a word.

In Montpellier, Irish referee Andrew Brace warned George Hammond after the Harlequins flanker ruffled the hair of an opponent for knocking-on, an obnoxious trend which has been creeping into the game for some time.

Instead of taking the soft option and letting Hammond off (“next one is a penalty”), why didn’t Brace award the penalty?

He could then have told him: “Do it again and you’re in the bin.”

My team of the weekend

15 Hugo Keenan (Leinster).

14 Robert Baloucoune (Ulster).

13 Gael Fickou (Racing).

12 Bundee Aki (Connacht).

11 Shane Daly (Munster).

10 Romain NTamack (Toulouse).

9 Cobus Reinach (Montpellier).

1 Ellis Genge (Leicester).

2 Pierre Bourgarit (La Rochelle).

3 Michael Alaalatoa (Leinster).

4 Paul Willemse (Montpellier).

5 Iain Henderson (Ulster).

6 Jack O’Donoghue (Munster).

7 John Hodnett (Munster).

8 Zach Mercer (Montpellier).