Horan pours scorn on Ledesma taunt tactics

IF the Castres captain Mario Ledesma hoped to intimidate his Munster rivals with his verbal attack during last week’s Ireland-Argentina after-match dinner, he has failed dismally where Marcus Horan is concerned.

Horan witnessed Ledesma’s antics. It was all a waste of time. The Munster loose head declared: “What do you expect from guys like that? They’ve been known for keeping it going after matches. It was disappointing to see that. A lot of them were very nice guys, they could be loud and still be friendly, but some were throwing their weight around a bit. That’s all part of it and we’ll be expecting a lot of it on Friday as well. We’ll be waiting for them.”

Horan is a very happy man to be in the south of France at all. Firstly, there was the threat of a long suspension hanging over him because of the disgraceful action of the Ospreys in citing him for a racial comment he never made during the recent game at The Gnoll. That subject is now consigned to history and it hasn’t left any mental scars on the 25-year-old Clonlara man.

That matter was hardly out of the way when he began to feel distinctly unwell in the lead-up to last week’s clash with Argentina. Having picked up his 23rd cap against the US, Marcus was back on the bench for the Pumas game when his world seemed to cave in.

“I came back from the captain’s run on the Friday morning and I was shivering with the cold,” he said.

“I just couldn’t get warm. I went into the shower for 20 minutes and then jumped into bed but to no avail. I felt I should go and have some lunch and while my appetite was there, I couldn’t get the food into my mouth. The doc gave me some paracetamol and I went back to bed and sweated buckets for about an hour. But after that I started to come around and by the morning I was fine again. I don’t know what it was but I thought for a while I wouldn’t be okay for Castres, not to mind sit on the bench against the Pumas.”

Horan is one of those to have benefited from the 10-week early season moratorium imposed on the elite players by Eddie O’Sullivan. He has played six or seven matches, about the right number for this stage of the season by his reckoning, but believes it’s time to get down to business.

“I would like to have been more involved in the autumn internationals,” he admits.

“The US weren’t much opposition and you can’t make an impression in a game like that. All of those who played in that game, no matter what they did, were never going to break into the side after the performance against South Africa. The other side of that coin is that you’re putting pressure on the fellas in the side and so they’re playing better and better.

“I’m glad to be back here again in France for Heineken Cup action. French sides are well-known for their scrummaging and it’s rare you find a weak pack here. We’re up against it but it’s an opportunity to put yourself in the shop window and prove your worth. The three in the front-row and the two behind us have been playing together long enough and we have to try to establish ourselves from the start.”

Horan has happy memories of his visits to France, not least his very first outing, which came against Colomiers in the 1999/’00 season. From his earliest days at St Munchin’s, he was a class act with ball in hand and he duly made that point when coming in as a late substitute for Peter Clohessy.

“I suppose Colomiers would have been regarded as one of the weaker French sides but they were still very strong,” he recalls.

“We did particularly well that day and won by something like 31-15. I got a chance when we broke down the right wing and about 30 yards out I took a pass, sold a dummy to the full-back who bought it and I ran in for the try. A great moment.

“We have, of course, a lot of history with Castres. I started against them in one of the group stages. They had an Argentinian and a South African in the front-row. They were fairly big guys but we were able to move them around the park, although we lost in the end. Their home patch and getting the crowd behind them is a big thing for them, although like any French team, if you can upset them in the scrums, the crowd can easily turn against them if they feel their own pack is being turned over so that’s a huge target for us.”

Horan will be packing down against French international Alessio Galasso, all 18st 13lbs of him, but isn’t bothered on that score. His approach is symptomatic of the Munster side; while they have full respect for Castres or any other team they come up against, they are never overawed and that’s how it remains going into this game.

“They’ll be very big men, we know Justin Fitzpatrick on the loose head side very well, and we’ll have to be pumped up for it,” he acknowledged.

“We are expecting a very hostile reception but that’s nothing new. We all know there’s a bit of history between the two sides.

“I’d say they’re still pretty hurt from the time in Beziers, as we would be if we had lost that day, we’d be really gunning for Castres so they’re going to have a lot to prove to themselves and their supporters.

“Munster would be a big scalp for them.”