‘Munster had the perfect game’

DENIS HICKIE and his Leinster team-mates return to Lansdowne Road this Saturday for another round of the Celtic League against Ospreys.

Life goes on for a rugby professional, but the hurt of Sunday’s loss to Munster is still apparent in Hickie’s voice.

The Leinster winger never enjoyed the freedom of Lansdowne Road as he did in Toulouse, though he believes Leinster played at 90% of their optimum level. However, that wasn’t enough against a team of Munster’s quality.

In essence, he believes Munster attained what Leinster so dearly desired on the day: the perfect game.

“We are obviously massively disappointed,” said a downbeat Hickie.

“I think if you are to win a game like a semi-final you need to be at a level Munster were at,” added Hickie. “We went to Toulouse and we played the perfect game and that’s why we won. You come to Lansdowne, you don’t play perfectly and then you’re not going to win.

“Munster had the perfect game against us. We were maybe at 90% and that’s not good enough. A lot of it is down to the pressure created by Munster, some of it was down to our own mistakes as well.

When asked how a team, which has scored tries for fun all season, failed to cross the whitewash for the first time in the competition, Hickie is reluctant to point blame at any individual.

“Our performance wasn’t up to scratch. Individually and collectively not everyone had 100% games. I firmly believe that everything needs to go well, both collectively and individually.

“We sat in the dressing room afterwards and everybody said that it didn’t happen and that’s why we’re not in the final.

“I’m very careful in what I say when we lose. It’s not always down to what you and the team do. A lot of credit has to go to who you’re playing against.

“Their backs are just as capable as anyone in scoring tries. Remember, Munster scored all the tries against us on Sunday and two of those came from their backs.

“They’ve a lot of fantastic players. I find it hard when you read about Ronan (O’Gara) and Peter (Stringer) for example. When Ronan plays for Munster people say, ‘he can’t get the line moving’, but when he’s playing for Ireland, he’s the best out-half in the world. He’s the same player, he has the same qualities, and he is going to play well every week because he’s just a class player.

“You could say that about a lot of their players, especially in their backs. I don’t think we ever looked at it like that at all. Obviously we have certain strengths and we all play a certain way. It was never about our backs and Munster’s forwards.”

The Leinster flyer echoed the words of Paul O’Connell and Anthony Foley by deeming no team has a divine right to win the European Cup.

“I can’t tell you now whether this will be Munster’s year. I honestly don’t know. Whoever plays well on the day wins. Nobody has the right to win the European Cup and whoever plays best will win it. If Munster play a game like Sunday, I wouldn’t bet against them. I think they’ll be very strong.