Munster pay for their sins

DRESS it up any way you like, one salient fact remains. Passion and spirit alone will never win the Heineken Cup for Munster or anybody else and there can be few complaints at the outcome of yesterday’s Lansdowne Road thriller.

It's no consolation to Munster that they played their part in making this a game to remember, rugby at its pulsating best, contested in glorious weather in front of a colourful and wildly partisan full house.

Shaun Edwards, a rugby league legend and nowadays assistant coach of London Wasps, went so far as to declare it greatest game he had seen in either code. He might well say that given the result, but he's right, it was an epic battle from which his side deservedly emerged with the spoils.

For some reason it will take time and close examination of the video to explain, Munster led by ten points with 13 minutes to go but they were unable to protect that handsome advantage, due to the steely determination and power of the Wasps (not to mention a series of deliberate, cynical infringements) and their own fatal failings in the tackle.

True, the loss of David Wallace at the eleventh hour and then the calamitous hamstring injury that ruled out Ronan O'Gara after 28 minutes severely handicapped Munster. It's equally fair to say Stephen Keogh did well on his Heineken Cup debut and Jason Holland, apart from conceding seven points when only on the pitch for a few minutes, also gained credit marks.

But Wallace and O'Gara were huge losses, the sad fact remains that Munster were outscored by five tries to two and, as a beaming Warren Gatland stressed, that left no doubt as to the better team.

"I can't take the smile off my face I'm so happy," beamed the Wasps coach. "There aren't many teams come back from a ten point deficit against Munster with that kind of support. We were in great shape physically and I think that made a difference at the end of the day Had it gone into extra-time, we would have come out on top as well."

To listen to Gatland and Edwards, you would have thought the Wasps side was full of angels and that the referee and his touch judges were one-eyed. But there were many, not all Munster fans, who felt Wasps' facility for giving away penalties rather than allow the opposition work their patterns goes beyond the bounds of fair play. Perhaps Munster need to learn a few of those tricks if they are ever to achieve their Holy Grail and at times yesterday they were a little naive.

It was a game they were chasing almost from the off, even if they took the lead in the first minute with a Ronan O'Gara penalty after Trevor Leota had begun the trend of deliberate and illegal Wasps interventions. They struck back with a cracking try by English World Cup winner Josh Lewsey as the game developed in to a succession of sweeping Wasps attacks which fully extended the creaking Munster defence and a constant flow of penalties to Munster when play was at the other end of the field.

The visitors were threatening all the time, Munster were keeping touch thanks to O'Gara's boot.

And then, on 28 minutes, came a seminal moment. With the visitors leading 10-9, Munster were awarded a penalty deep in enemy territory. But when O'Gara kicked tamely to touch, you realised the injury he had sustained when dragged into a ruck a few moments previously was far more serious than at first appeared to be the case. Munster's key man was out of the action and Wasps had enjoyed a huge psychological advantage.

Jason Holland was hardly on the field when he kicked Munster 12-10 in front (to his credit, he had a 100% record from three penalties and two conversions) but from the kick-off he delayed a clearance and Rob Howley, though fractionally offside, charged down the kick, gathered and got a scoring pass away to Paul Volley.

It would have been all over minutes later had Tom Voyce not fumbled a pass from Peter Stringer intended for John Kelly with an open field in front. Instead, Holland tapped over a penalty and Munster went in only a couple of points ahead and turned to play with the brisk wind.

Those who have waited for so long for a touch of Christian Cullen magic finally got their way when he made a dazzling run down the right wing. Holland kicked another penalty, Fraser Waters was binned (disgracefully, growled Shaun Edwards) and Munster's best spell was rewarded with a try by Anthony Foley following a great run by Keogh.

Still, Munster were lucky the score stood, for the ball certainly appeared to go forward in the tackle on Keogh. Jim Williams's men now smelled blood and looked to have got the jugular when the skipper himself forced his way over and Holland converted to make it 32-22.

All the time, Williams was immense and if this was his last Heineken Cup outing for Munster, well it's a great pity.

His demeanour afterwards suggested he was less than happy with the display of some of his team-mates.

And sadly, it was then that the side as a whole lost their focus. O'Callaghan was sin binned from the kick-off and Shaun Payne and Christian Cullen had to pull off magnificent covering tackles to keep the Wasps at bay.

The pressure, though, was telling. Henderson got himself stupidly sin binned, Mike Mullins and Cullen were just two who missed the head-on tackles which Gaffney lamented so much. The penalty was duly exacted as King kicked a goal and Voyce and agonisingly Leota got the tries that edged their side through.

Heartbreaking for Munster? Yes. A fair result? Yes.