Thanks for the memories, mighty men of Munster

THIS is not so much an obituary for the present Munster rugby squad, bloody and bowed and beaten today, but a warm vote of thanks to a great team of warriors for all the sporting entertainment and thrills they have given us over the past decade and more.

They were of the plain people of Ireland and for those plain people and they gave us the joy and pride of two Heineken Cups and much more than that. They have been mighty men.

The end of their magnetic Heineken Cup involvement had to come sometime.. Maybe, in hindsight, it is best that they were gutted and destroyed by a far better side on the day. Maybe it was cruelly best that the unerring boot of Jonny Wilkinson became the sharpest stiletto into their guts at the end of the execution. The nature of the loss showed, somehow, that this was not the real Munster afield. If they had been beaten by a single point it would probably have been harder all round. Know what I mean? They left their collective form and controlled fury behind them when they flew out for that game. They were shadows of what they were and are at their magnificent best. Toulon did not beat the Munster we know, they beat their listless and dispirited ghosts.