Munster are ready to take the final step
HEINEKEN CUP SEMI-FINAL:
Toulon v Munster
This time last year, I was playing my last game, and it will be a lot different this weekend when I take my five-year-old and three-year-old sons to Marseille to watch Munster in a Heineken Cup semi-final as a supporter.
For the younger players who faced Clermont that day a year ago in Montpellier, it will be a different experience too. They are another year older and wiser and they will hopefully have learned to dream a little bigger than 12 months ago when they take on Toulon at the Stade Vélodrome on Sunday.
Like Munster this weekend, we weren’t given a chance against Clermont and I think a few of the players bought into that a small bit. Yet if we displayed a little bit more belief, I think we could have beaten Clermont.
You can’t decide that during the game — as we did, about 20 minutes too late — you have to decide that before the game. You have to dream about these things before they actually happen, not once the opportunity has already gone, because at this level it’s just too ruthless.
That had to be a big learning curve for those younger players. Everyone walked off the pitch with a small bit of pride after getting ourselves back into the game but half an hour later there was a sense of regret because we probably gave them too much respect.
Those lessons will stand to Munster this time, it’s a natural progression for this group. They’re in a far better space physically and mentally and there’s 12 more months of confidence under Rob Penney’s gameplan, and that’s the beauty of it for Munster.
The youngsters in the team took a massive step last year in that quarter-final away to Harlequins and I think this is the next gradual progression for them. They have to take the next step if they want to be considered very good players, and as a result get picked for Ireland. These are the consequences of winning on Sunday and they won’t be thinking about running Toulon close, they have to be thinking of winning.
They have the ability to play Rob’s game plan and the ability to play cup rugby. Marry the two of them and it could be potent because the conditions are ripe now for playing the wide game or taking them on with the maul or kicking it behind them.
If you’re analysing Munster now, it’s quite difficult because you look at the two big games from last year, the quarter and the semi-final, we played smart rugby and that’s what the team is doing now. Rob wasn’t asking the boys to drop balls last season but when you’re dropping them and turning over ball in double figures, it’s very difficult to win games.
On Sunday it will be all about accuracy, and the intensity of the Toulon defence is going to be a challenge they haven’t faced before. So that’s the key. They’ve got to believe in it and execute under pressure. These boys have had their learnings from the Clermont game last year and now the goal is to go one step further and reach the final. It’s a new team and that’s the most important and exciting thing.
Much has been made of Toulon’s strengths, that depth in their squad and their ability to change world-class players in and out of almost every position, but that actually gives me hope for Munster’s chances.
Like a lot of French game plans, Toulon’s is reliant on the individual brilliance of players and if you look at the quarter-final against Leinster, they played very well but not in terms of pattern or structure; it was individuals who played very well.
They don’t have a set pattern that they stick to whether they’re under the cosh or playing brilliantly and that gives me hope because at this level of competition, I feel Munster will be more organised. And if Munster can retain ball under ferocious pressure I think they have a great chance.
Toulon supporters are not on a par with Munster’s but they’re the best travelling supporters in France, along with Clermont, and the atmosphere in Marseille will be incredible and will feel like a home game for them, if the game’s going their way. If not, then those 5,000 or more Munster supporters will get into the game, that’s for sure.
A lot of people are considering Toulon an incredible team after the way they beat Leinster earlier this month but the truth is they don’t always play like they did against Leinster. There’s been some very poor performances from Toulon this season as well. Every team can be rattled and that’s the beauty of it.
Munster can’t look to contain Toulon, they have to go and attack them and that for me is the key point, because if they keep giving the ball back to them, Toulon’s physicality will take its toll, especially if Bakkies Botha is playing, if Danie Roussouw is playing, and their back row is immense. Yet Munster’s forwards are their area of strength so if they can try and up the pace of the game, I think it will suit Munster.
All these noises out of Munster that Toulon have nothing to fear from them is just Rob Penney playing a game, big time. The dismantling job Munster did on Toulouse, and I know it was at Thomond Park, but it’s very rare to see that happening to Toulouse and it hasn’t happened at any level in France this season. Munster’s pedigree is there and I just can’t wait to see the hunger levels of the team.
What’s key is how Munster control the ball. It was 6-6 between Leinster and Toulon after 40 minutes in the quarter-final and Leinster did absolutely nothing and couldn’t hang on to the ball. Toulon had a lot of the superiority but when Leinster attacked them, Toulon looked vulnerable.
Munster have to look at the fact that there were times when quite a few of the Toulon front row were left on the blind side and it presents an opportunity to attack them off a midfield target and then down the blind side. The Munster analysts will have spotted that but they can’t afford to turnover ball because Toulon are deadly on the counter-attack, through Delon Armitage, Smith, Habana, Mermoz, Mitchell, Giteau and Bastareaud. That’s where they’re dangerous and the other key is they can’t afford to be ill-disciplined because they can’t gift three points to Jonny Wilkinson.
The good news is that Munster have been well disciplined all season and when they’ve played, they’ve played with a serious amount of intensity.
You look at that Gloucester away performance and in Thomond Park against Toulouse and you have to say that when Munster play with pace in their game, few teams can live with them.
There’s no doubt about it, if JJ Hanrahan doesn’t make the bench it significantly weakens Munster’s squad. He’s a player who has the ability to be a star in his own right and he has to contribute off the bench. But more than that, what happens if something went askew after an hour with either one of the half-backs? It causes unnecessary turmoil to a team.
Subs shouldn’t be looking to just replace a player, they should be looking to add 30% more to the team. That was my mindset when I became an Ireland sub.
But if the task does fall to Conor Murray to kick a last-minute penalty to win the game, he’s not going to miss through a lack of the right temperament. He’s only been on the scene for three years, his rise has been incredible and he’s taken every step with such ease and confidence. I’ve seen him goal-kicking, it’s something he practises and he hasn’t just taken it up now. And he has the temperament, that’s for sure.
