Munster can hold heads high

THE same end result for the two Irish provinces in the semi-finals of the European Cup, but a remarkable contrast in the manner in which they bowed out of the competition.

Munster lived fully up to their reputation as a team that plays with heart and head, Leinster (and it gives me absolutely no pleasure to say this) lived fully down to theirs, a side that had neither of the above.

True they had individuals that would make any club team in the world, even Munster, but in this game you live as a group, fall the same way. But my, what a fall suffered by that collective.

After their emotion-churning one-point loss to a brilliant Toulouse side in Toulouse, my heart went out yet again to Munster. Munster the gallant, Munster the brave, Munster the magnificent, went toe-to-toe with a mighty and equally-courageous foe and never took a backward step. Played with might and main but also played with wit and brain. They lost, but right to that bitter end they were there fighting, never panicking, keeping their heads, doing all the right things. Had they worked just another five yards for O’Gara, just another split-second, I am certain one of those two drop-goal attempts at the death would have gone over. And just as I concede now that Toulouse were worthy of their victory, had one of those goals gone over, and contrary to a lot of expert opinion, I am equally certain Munster would have deserved theirs.

Munster played that game, those conditions, to their strengths. With a powerful set-piece in both lineout and scrum, with probably the best tactical kicking out-half in the business, play for field position and take it from there. It worked too, and their 6-3 half-time lead could have been 9-0, possibly more. One penalty hit an upright, another went over the post, curled inside just too late. As for tries Toulouse could have scored, bullshit. If the ball isn’t dotted down, could have doesn’t count.

Remember this, Munster too had their periods of pressure, so credit to both sets of defence. The principal point is that in the first half, Munster were clearly the better side. The same pattern prevailed for half of the second period. Then we saw the real difference between Munster and Toulouse. The bench. Munster had the better team, Toulouse had the better squad.

They got their penalty, they got their try, they got their conversion, but that was all they got, and in the face of heroic Munster defence, that was all they deserved. It was the Pass of Thermopylae but time and again history has shown, defence wins wars, defence wins games. So, they lost, lost the game, but lost nothing else.

LEINSTER? Well, you fill in the blanks. Unlike Munster in this competition, this was a side that had everything going for them. Home draw all the way to the final against French sides notoriously poor to travel, that was the path laid out for them.

Champagne rugby they’d been playing, with a side containing more than half the record-breaking Irish international side. There are the begrudgers who, after Munster had lost, hoped Leinster would get hosed.

I wasn’t one of them. Leinster were now representing not just their own, but the rest of us, the whole of Ireland. They did it so badly. Let themselves down, left their own province down, left the rest of us down. The knock was there, always there, though Leinster railed against it. Soft centre, soft under-belly.

This weekend added fuel to that fire. People have been asking, how will Munster recover. Recover from what, I ask. Again they were brilliant, justified every plaudit ever written about them. Add a bit of gas, perhaps Geordan Murphy, they’ll win this thing yet.

But Leinster? Now there’s a team with some real recovering to do.