Donal Lenihan: Sad sting in the tale for proud Wasps
BATTLES: Lawrence Dallaglio of Wasps receives a yellow card, while Peter Stringer looks on, during the Heineken Cup clash in January 2008. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
With Worcester Warriors already relegated from the Gallagher Premiership as a consequence of entering administration the unthinkable happened, even earlier than expected, when Wasps were forced to follow suit last Monday as a consequence of their inability to satisfy a £2m tax debt to the revenue.
Wasps are one of the great clubs of the professional era. Six times Premiership champions, Heineken Cup winners in 2004 and 2007 under Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards, they were not only the English standard bearers but one of the strongest and best coached clubs in Europe.
Munster fans have reason to recall some great European encounters against Lawrence Dallaglio’s men with a mixture of pride and emotion. Who will ever forget the epic Heineken Cup semi final at Lansdowne Road in 2004, when Wasps reeled in Munster’s ten-point lead to win at the death with a disputed Trevor Leota try in the corner? It remains as one of the greatest European contests of all time.
Munster were crestfallen after that harrowing defeat. With the new Cork/Limerick motorway to Dublin still under construction, the traffic ground to a halt on the way home given the volume of people who travelled from the south of the country. People were forced out of their cars in the now bypassed town of Monasterevin, as fans from all over the province consoled each other over the latest setback on the quest for European glory.
By the time the sides met again, in the pool stage of the 2007/08 season, Wasps were the reigning champions, succeeding Munster’s inaugural success when finally beating Biarritz in the 2006 final.
Having beaten Munster 24-23 in another classic in the opening pool game in Coventry in November 2007, the return fixture in the final pool game the following January would decide who progressed to the quarter final. Fired up once again by their inspirational captain Dallaglio, Wasps rocked up in Limerick on a miserable day when the new Thomond Park was little more than a giant building site in the midst of its redevelopment.
Sitting in the raw concrete shell of the emerging new East Stand on a wet and miserable day, it was clear from the respective warm-ups that both sides were primed for action. Wasps started with a host of proven international class performers in English World Cup winners Dallaglio, Phil Vickery, Simon Shaw and Josh Lewsey; Welsh great Rob Howley, French Grand Slam winning captain Raphael Ibanez and future England internationals Danny Cipriani and James Haskell.
The visitors were very good that day but Munster were better. Denis Leamy’s superb try with four minutes to go, which confirmed Munster’s safe passage, transformed the skeletal arena into a theatre of dreams. Munster not only eliminated the holders, but advanced through the knockout phase to secure a second gold star with a memorable victory over French giants Toulouse in Cardiff.
Little did we appreciate back then that neither club would scale those lofty European heights again. At least Munster remain in the fight. For Wasps, the lights have gone out. With 167 players and staff, including our own John Ryan who only joined the club from Munster last June, made redundant on Monday morning, nobody knows if they will ever be switched on again. English club rugby has reached its watershed moment.
Munster face financial challenges of their own right now which can be traced back, in large part, to the debt embraced by the reconstruction of Thomond Park, but nowhere near the peril facing some of their English counterparts.
That can be attributed to the prudent financial governance and central contracting system employed by the IRFU since the outset of professionalism. How ironic that the RFU are finally contemplating adopting a version of the model chosen by the IRFU over 25 years ago. One hopes it’s not too late.
One issue that will concern the bean counters, both in Munster and at IRFU headquarters, is the possibility that Munster’s slow start to the season could see them miss out on Heineken Champions Cup qualification, and the financial benefits that accrue with that, next season.
With high flying Leinster and Ulster, first and second in an increasingly more competitive URC table, next up in Dublin and Limerick, a Munster win over the Vodacom Bulls was an absolute must last Saturday night.
Spurred on by a fear of being beaten up by a monstrous Bulls pack, Munster lifted their performance levels to a season’s high to date to bag a timely and merited 31-17 bonus point win.
One swallow doesn’t make a summer however and Munster have a journey to travel. We’ll know a lot more about where Munster sit after what will be two massively challenging, back-to-back, local derbies over the next two weekends.
A contributory factor to Munster’s early season woes was the loss of nine players to the hastily arranged Emerging Ireland squad that travelled to South Africa. While Munster don’t have Leinster’s capacity to absorb the loss of such resources, we’ve already seen evidence to suggest that, in time, the tour may well prove beneficial to the province.
When Graham Rowntree selected seven of the returning Munster players in his match day squad against the Bulls, you feared it might ask too much of that young cohort given the playing and travel demands they had recently faced.
That said, after one win in four URC outings, his squad needed some fresh faces and an injection of confidence. Given the manner with which some of his charges performed in some highly physical contests, albeit against limited opposition in Bloemfontein, Rowntree’s gamble was worth it.
Ireland forwards coach Paul O Connell was confident that the benefits accruing to some of the tourists in terms of the technical, tactical and confidence gains accumulated in their time together, would prove valuable to the provincial cause.
If some immediate proof was required to support the prophetic words of the former Ireland captain, it arrived bang on cue when Rowntree sprung Jack Crowley and Thomas Ahern, two of the success stories of the tour, off the bench for second-half action on Saturday night.
Their impact was instantaneous. Introduced at full back at the break due to an unfortunate injury to Calvin Nash -- another success story on that trip -- Crowley brought his cultured boot, instinctive counter-attacking skills and a second playmaking role to proceedings to compliment an already impressive outing by Joey Carbery. This is something attack coach Mike Prendergast will be keen on developing even further over the months ahead.
The 6’8” Ahern offers so much more than just a towering line-out presence. He is so comfortable with ball in hand while his carrying ability is continually improving. The number of times he managed to get his hands on the ball after his 53rd-minute introduction was astonishing.
The fact that he bagged two outings against the gargantuan packs fielded by the Griquas and Cheetahs stood to him against the Bulls as his ever-expanding frame is still coming to terms with the physical demands of the modern game.
He is now ready to kick on to the next level and his locking partnership with Leinster’s emerging powerhouse Joe McCarthy was the high point of the South African adventure for me. On the subject of second row combinations, a word too for Cobh Pirates graduate Edwin Edogbo, who at just 19 years of age and already weighing in over 19 stones, looked extremely comfortable in the heat of battle against the Bulls front five.
In Ahern and Edogbo, Munster are in the midst of developing an incredibly exciting, balanced locking partnership, combining raw power, immense athleticism with an impressive skill set that could serve the province well for years to come.
With the potential return to arms of Andrew Conway, Keith Earls and Simon Zebo and a host of the next generation putting their hands up for inclusion, Rowntree’s selection for the next two crucial games will prove highly informative.
The big question now is whether Munster can kick on from here against our accomplished rivals from the east who have only endured one defeat in the last nine encounters between the sides. For that to happen, something will have to change.
