Reds can rattle the best
Saturday was a proper Thomond Park experience and a proper no-show from the most successful club team in the history of European competition. What Munster fed off, Toulouse shirked.
Even when Guy Noves — helpless on the sideline — saw his side break through for a try, Munster just went through the gears and eviscerated them. A try after four minutes. Goodnight Toulouse.
You sensed in the last of the quarter finals Sunday Toulon were going to turn the screw against Leinster, but at least Matt O’Connor’s team stood firm to the interval at 6-6.
I talk a lot about body language and it was clear the game was up at Thomond with 30 minutes to go for Toulouse. With their quality and their history, sorry, but there’s got to be more.
An oddly informative thing happened early in the second half. Luke McAlister was substituted and responded by applauding the crowd as he departed. His team were being hockeyed. That was very strange for me for a top pro, an All Black. Clearly he appreciated the respect and was aware of the traditions and the heritage of Munster rugby, the respect the crowd gives kickers. Maybe that’s what he was applauding. I’ll give him the benefit of my doubt. But when your team is 20-odd points down, it wouldn’t be the reaction to being substituted you’d expect.
When you’re rattled, it affects you. Yoann Huget was one of the players of the Six Nations. If you saw him for the first time last Saturday, you wouldn’t offer him a pro contract. It was the same a few years back when the All Blacks came to town; pressure does strange things to people. It wasn’t all poor possession and bad passes by Toulouse. They were affected by the atmosphere, a lovely additional element to have in your locker. If you lose that, you’ve lost 50% of what Munster is about.
I watched Noves closely. He spent the game up close to the collisions on the sideline, an old school coach who likes to get blood-spattered at ringside. At Racing, we have one coach up in the box, another down beside me at pitch side. You get a better feel for it at pitch level. Possibly the spaces around the place are harder to see, but it’s all a little bit removed for me in the box.
It’s an interesting topic. From the respective vantage points, the game is so much different. If you’re watching a game at the Aviva Stadium from the third tier, or from a similar perspective at Thomond, you see a completely different game than on the sideline. And not necessarily a more complete game either. You see a spatial game, whereas on the touchline it’s more about the collisions. That was always a thing with Deccie Kidney, he always liked to watch a game from behind the goals, right up through the levels. If I’m watching training nowadays, I’d do so from behind the 12 and 13 all day. Your rugby eyes work in a particular way, you get to see where the actual holes are.
From either angle, Noves could see his players were being mauled all over the place. There has to be a strategy for stopping mauls, and Toulouse were as aware as Christmas it was coming, but remember the serious brains at work with Munster’s Paul O’Connell and Anthony Foley. And the information flow from Donncha Ryan and Donncha OCallaghan, feeding it through to the likes of Dave Foley and Billy Holland. It’s a Munster strength on winter nights, but this was a dry, daylight sod. It was as impressive as it was efficient.
And it was efficient. In almost every way. They didn’t get away with Peter O’Mahony, unfortunately. The plan was to nurse him through to the end of the season and send him off for medical attention and rest. At this stage, with the role he’s assumed, he’s probably the second most important player on the team after Paul. He’s a natural leader — he doesn’t have to force it — and a serious rugby player. He’s also a great conduit between the experienced players, the young players and the management. A lot of players would be intimidated with an O’Connell around him, but Peter handles it. Because he’s such a player and a leader, it will affect Munster in several ways — but the most elementary is how it affects the depth of the squad for Toulon because when you lose quality — and Toulon’s back row is so impressive — it’s a real body blow. Because of the way he plays, he is going to be injured, and perhaps more frequently than most. I don’t think Peter’s game would be as good if he wasn’t prepared to do what he is doing to his body. That’s the reality.
What separates him from others is he does special stuff at the breakdown, but to do that you have to be prepared to put your body in a position where injuries will occur. There’s a high attrition rate. There were a few knocks in the Six Nations and this was a case of hopefully Munster get him through to the end of the season. He won’t be going to Argentina on the Ireland tour and that’s no bad thing. Peter is going to the World Cup, that’s key.
You might presume CJ Stander now starts the semi-final, but the fascinating thing about sport is nothing is that obvious — it’s all to play for in the back row for Marseille. Peter was a good option in the line-out, so the balance of the back row is critical. Is Stander a like for like? You’d say yes, but Munster might want bulk against Toulon, and that presents an argument for Donncha O’Callaghan. Where does Donncha Ryan play? But in the next two games, there will be injuries again. That’s what people forget.
I spoke recently to Paulie about Stander. All the players have been very impressed with him, but under current management, his opportunities have been very limited. They obviously have reasons for that, but I enjoyed his attitude and his resilience. It was great to see how emotional he was after the Toulouse game. Paul said he’s extremely popular within the squad, a bit of a standard-setter in Limerick. That’s important. Training, diet, outlook on life — even against a backdrop of huge frustration, he’s positive and ready to channel his emotions into the right areas.
Toulon were veryimpressive at the Stade Felix Mayol, but that’s not a surprise. Leinster didn’t fire a shot. That was a surprise. How many dropped balls did they have? Most unlike Leinster. Gopperth dropped the ball as much in open play as he might normally expect to do in three months. Munster were hurting badly after the Leinster game, and took the lessons on board. Leinster found out once again that it’s hard to produce two weeks in a row.
The eyes said everything beforehand. Toulon were very focused and fearful of Leinster. They looked prepared, test match prepared. Giteau, Mitchell, the Armitage brothers, Juan Smith. Players you would expect to perform but who were taking it up a notch. Toulon will respect Munster, but they won’t be at the pitch they were for the Leinster game, a good thing for Rob Penney.
They’ve beaten Leinster, Leinster beat Munster. They won’t see Munster as quite the same threat, even if the formline suggest that to be foolhardy. Munster were a bounce of a ball away from the final last year. You have to put fellas through that experience for the belief to grow and there has been growth in the Munster set up this year.
They came out of a weak pool, mind you, but delivered a comprehensive performance against Toulouse — the same side that went to Wembley and saw off Saracens. Munster must dip into Montpellier last year - remember, Clermont are in the same bracket as Toulon.
Most observers in France think Toulon will do a number on Munster. I wouldn’t be too sure.
I can empathise more than most with Jared Payne’s mid-air collision that cost Ulster so dear against Saracens. I wasn’t sent off for the infringement on Fourie du Preez in that Pretoria Test for the Lions against the Boks, but it might have been better if I had — I could have missed Morne Steyn’s winning penalty. The one thought in my head after last Saturday at Ravenhill is that a red card is for foul play. An act of foul play. Now, it was clumsy and he did take a look — it’s inaccurate to say he was watching the ball all the time. But for Payne to receive a suspension too is ridiculously harsh — was he not punished enough? It was a careless act, but to be missing more rugby now is completely wrong.
