Munster have no reason to be fearful of Shark attack

DIFFICULT to know what to make of Sale Sharks after their stuttering 30-10 Heineken Cup win over the Gwent Dragons on Sunday.

Perhaps they were trying to delude Munster into believing they will be a soft touch on Saturday a suspicion strengthened perhaps by the rueful comment of coach Philippe Saint-Andre that “I hope Munster watched us and weren’t too impressed.”

Saint-Andre has been around too long to realise the difficulty in kidding Declan Kidney, Jerry Holland, Jim Williams, Brian Hickey and the rest but there were still some aspects of their performance against the Dragons to inspire the belief that Munster are fully capable of inflicting on Sale only their third defeat of the season.

True, Sale had the all-important bonus point wrapped up in good time and could be forgiven for taking the foot off the pedal, especially with Thomond Park on their minds. On the other hand, at no stage of the game did they look unbeatable.

Sebastian Chabal was again a major influence but even he would admit that the opposition handed him the softest try imaginable, while he also demonstrated his unpredictability with an absurd fly kick that could have landed his team in all sorts of trouble.

Nevertheless, he will require close scrutiny on Saturday when he will throw his 6ft 3 inch, 17 stone frame into the action with relish. If things are going well for his side, he will assuredly relish the atmosphere; if not, then his dubious temperament could be an asset to Munster. There are doubts, also, concerning the mental fortitude of other Sale players, notably out-half Charlie Hodgson, whose head-to-head with back in form Ronan O’Gara should be a real treat, and loose head prop Andrew Sheridan.

The latter weighs in at 20st 6lbs and stands 6’5.” He is regarded by a large percentage of the English media as the best player in his position in the world although he was given precious little game time by the Lions in New Zealand.

His supporters believe he’ll blow away Munster’s John Hayes, who was derided by many of the same commentators for his very presence on that tour and that the scrummage battle as a result will go Sale’s way. There’s no doubt that Hayes, no slip of a lad himself at 6’4” and 19st 9lbs, is up against it but he has been proving his knockers wrong for so long that you suspect he’ll be well able to look after himself and Sheridan as well.

Kidney and co will have noted how Sale were “turned” at a scrum on their try line on Sunday only to demolish the Dragons from the reset on their own put-in, thereby leading to the second try. The Ben Coutts, Sebastian Bruno, Sheridan front-row trio is indeed a formidable unit and will test Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery and Hayes to the full.

Tactically, Sale like to use Hodgson’s boot to gain field position but they overdid it in the first Munster game in October and again on Sunday. Surprising, that, considering the presence of Mark Cueto and Jason Robinson out wide, while O’Gara, Trevor Halstead and Barry Murphy are likely to test Hodgson’s mettle in the tackle. He badly missed Sione Tuipulotu for a Dragons try on Sunday. Another good reason may be the feeling that the centre partnership of former Welsh international Mark Taylor and Elvis Seveal’i isn’t quite up to the mark.

One of the most encouraging features of Munster’s recent performances is the manner in which Paul O’Connell has quickly shaken off the effects of a long term injury to prove he is as good as ever. Possibly better. The many bursts he made into and through the heart of the Castres defence on Friday were awesome and, while he lauded the efforts of the younger players, he had a word of caution for Barry Murphy, who proved so influential in his role as second centre.

“People have been raving about him since he started playing with Bohemians and he’s certainly a great talent,” said O’Connell. “But he’s in a honeymoon period at the moment and there will be days when things don’t go as well for him and he’ll have to learn from that. But at the moment he’s playing some fine rugby, his lines of running, his passing, his hands, are incredible. To see Barry, Ian Dowling, Tomas O’Leary, Denis Fogarty, all coming through, and for 14 of Friday’s side (Trevor Halstead is the exception) to be Irish qualified is fantastic.

“We told ourselves that we must enjoy the evening in Castres and we did but now all eyes are on this week. It’s going to be a massive occasion, one of the biggest ever in Munster’s history. Sale are one of the best teams in Europe if not the best but we’ll be up for them.

“The money the supporters spend on following us is unbelievable. Their efforts are not lost on us and it means so much. A lot of these people aren’t all that well off and for them to follow these games is a big ask but they’ve been incredible for us as usual and I hope we give them the result they deserve.”