Another epic journey comes to an end

“FRIENDS, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar.”

Shakespeare could have been speaking of Munster in yesterday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final; shorn of O’Gara and Cullen, their two play-making talismen, up against a Biarritz side that has been on fire in the French championship, in 25 degrees of heat, a wall of absolutely deafening local support, this was to be their last hurrah. Buried in San Sebastian.

In the end, they were indeed defeated; a standing ovation however, from the massed ranks of those noisy but sporting Biarritz fans, bespoke a very different ending. Munster lost, another bitter defeat, but they won hearts, won new fans, including a man who is a living legend in Biarritz.

“Anyone who thought that Munster were going to be humiliated here, doesn’t know rugby, and certainly doesn’t know Munster rugby,” declared Serge Blanco, generally considered the finest full-back of all. “Munster are just too good, too widely respected, for that kind of thinking.”

Mind you, after a first-half in which they trailed 16-0, the signs were ominous for the visitors, a combination of magnificent Biarritz defence and their own errors costing Munster. The second half however was very different; this Munster team had indeed come to play, and a converted try within six minutes had Biarritz coach Patrick Lagisquet jumping up and down on the sidelines, as Munster stepped up the pressure.

“I was worried,” he admitted, “especially after such an early score, we had a few missed tackles, but anyone who knows me knows that I jump up and down quite a lot, during games. I didn’t think the game was particularly fast; Munster play to their strengths, extremely strong in contact, use the driving mauls well. Munster is a team not particularly fast in the backs, and they make up for that by keeping it in the forwards. I was a little concerned by our failure to adapt to the lines of attack.”

That the game wasn’t fast was not Munster’s fault, as they did all in their power to up the tempo, kept Biarritz on the back foot for most of the second half. Biarritz aren’t just about powerful defence however, they’re about cute defence, and time and again they slowed Munster ball (Serge Betsen got man-of-the-match for a performance missed by all except those in the trenches), killed the game with a multitude of stoppages.

Those breaks were sorely needed, according to scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili, acutely aware of the danger if Munster had managed to come within a single score of Biarritz in the last quarter. “Bien sur!” he smiled, no translation needed; “obviously that was a concern, but we were always those two scores ahead, and although there were times we didn’t quite get up in a line (in defence), I never really felt that we were going to lose. The atmosphere was really special, magic. It was in a different town, different country, but it was still the Pays Basque, which was important.”

Ah yes, the atmosphere. San Sebastian became Biarritz for a day, a sea of red-and-white, an ear-splitting cacophony of sound, brass bands, klaxon horns, tens of thousands of energised fans come to party. Moving it south of the border was a controversial decision, upsetting especially the business interests of Biarritz; no problem now, reckoned Lagisquet.

“As soon as we came out onto the pitch, when we heard the noise from the crowd, we knew we were playing at home. Obviously the Munster supporters could be heard as well, but our support was absolutely amazing today, the atmosphere exceeded our expectations. We played a quarter-final in a full stadium in Bordeaux a few years ago, but that was overshadowed by the reaction today. Incredible.”

And so, another epic journey ends for Munster, another full part played in another epic play-off Heineken Cup match. They did so much that wasn’t expected of them, fronted up to a highly-rated Biarritz scrum, ran from deep, went thought the phases, kept ball in hand when they were expected to shove it up the jumper, or kick the leather off it. And yet, there was one, another French player of flair, who questioned those Munster tactics. Former Toulouse and French out-half Thomas Castaignede is now a commentator; he wondered at the Munster tactics. “Munster played with pride, tried everything, but I was surprised they played it side to side, that is not really the answer to Biarritz, they are very good in that kind of defence, don’t over-commit to the ruck; Munster should played more direct at the rucks. Still, it was a fantastic game, great for rugby.

“I saw a prop playing like a back, Horan, he was really unbelievable. The biggest difference was that Biarritz were more effective in turnovers, didn’t commit too many people to the rucks, stayed patient in defence, denied Munster, and that was the difference in the end.”