‘The people who come to the games are our family, friends and the people who live in the town. No player wants to let them down. It’s very close to the heart every time we go out there.’
It’s now 28 Thomond wins on the bounce in the Heineken Cup and as they bid farewell to the great old ground for this season, they will take some stopping if they can carry the momentum of this demolition of England’s finest on their travels.
The Thomond Park factor was seldom more pronounced than on Saturday when 13,000 fans embraced their brethren with frenzied support.
Sale’s director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre shook his head in bewilderment as he reflected on his side’s first European reverse of the season. It wasn’t for him to explain why Munster are so invincible at Thomond Park and he couldn’t go beyond admitting “it’s a tough place to come.”
But Munster captain Anthony Foley had no such difficulty as he enthused: “The adrenalin was flowing. Sometimes you’re told you can’t do certain things and so it’s a great feeling when you go and achieve them. They’re talking about leaving and going somewhere else but, well, I don’t know ... the atmosphere inspires the players. At the end of the day, it’s our families, our friends, the people who live in our towns who come to support us and I don’t think any player wants to let them down. It’s very close to the heart when we go out there.”
This latest occasion will only add to the groundswell of opinion that it would be heresy for European rugby to leave Thomond Park. The large British media contingent arrived on Saturday satisfied the cream of the Premiership would be well able to cope with all its idiosyncrasies.
By half time, as Munster led 24-9 and by three tries to nil, they were quite clearly awestruck by everything around them. By the close of business, many wondered would the victory spell ever be broken.
Munster’s mighty second-row forward Paul O’Connell put himself in the boots of the Sale players. “It must be very intimidating to run out for your warm-up more than a half hour before a game starts and see the stand full. You wonder what these people are thinking. When a big hit comes in, all the boys tap each other on the back and then you hear the crowd roaring and getting even more behind you and you want to do it for them as well as yourself.”
The game was less than three minutes old when the first punch-up resulted in Argentinian Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe being dispatched to the sin bin by Joel Jutge. Before he rejoined the fray, Denis Leamy claimed a line-out catch, the pack rumbled and fittingly it was Foley who emerged with the ball. Already, the immense Donncha O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Foley, Leamy and co were being seen to towering effect, not least when concerted pressure arrived midway through the half.
The Munster defence was awesome and the formidable and feared Sebastian Chabal was twice forced to take a time-out having been stopped dead in his tracks, most notably by a fierce double tackle from Foley and Ronan O’Gara. Nor will he forget the hit he took from O’Connell supported by the entire Munster pack that blew him back more than twenty yards from a first half restart.
With the siege lifted, Munster went about proving they were no one-trick pony. A scintillating attack ended with the hugely impressive Ian Dowling scampering in the left corner. Then it was the turn of Marcus Horan and Sale second-row Chris Jones to visit the bin after another flare-up but Munster maintained their focus and on 36 minutes, Barry Murphy capitalised on a fortunate deflection to show speed, power and sound judgement to score after a 50 metre run. O’Gara used the boot to keep the scoreboard ticking over and at 24-9 at the break, Munster were sitting pretty.
If the forwards were, as always, carrying the brunt of the battle, the backs weren’t exactly letting the side down. Shaun Payne had another blinder at full-back, Trevor Halstead and Murphy in the centre and John Kelly and Dowling on the wings never put a foot wrong, while O’Gara and Stringer once again put their vast experience to the great benefit of the side. The second half was nothing like as exciting as the first but to their great credit, Munster did not force the pace in search of the bonus point.
It finally came as late as the 82nd minute. Foley admitted that not knowing how much time was left might have been more of a help than a hindrance. He revealed that referee, Joel Jutge, had lost his watch during the game. “We didn’t panic, we remained precise in what we were trying to achieve. The boys threw a nice back line move together, Shaun [Payne] was held up short, Wally was on his shoulder and scampered over from four or five yards. It was a great try and a massive relief.”
So England’s finest had been well and truly turned over. Later, we marvelled at those who laud the Premiership and deride the Celtic League. Food for thought for some; for Munster and their fans, a great day to celebrate and still so much to relish!
: Payne, Kelly, B. Murphy, Halstead, Dowling, O’Gara, Stringer, Horan, Flannery, Hayes, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Leamy, Wallace, Foley.
: Lawlor for Dowling (80), O’Leary for Stringer (80), Fogarty for Flannery (80), O’Driscoll for O’Connell (80), Pucciariello for Foley (40).
: Robinson, Cueto, Taylor, Seveali’i, Ripol, Hodgson, Martens, Sheridan, Bruno, Stewart, Lobbe, C. Jones, White, Lund, Chabal.
: Taione for Seveali’i (27), Wigglesworth for Martens (48), Titterrell for Bruno (61), Coutts for Stewart (65), Schofield for Lobbe (61), Mayor for C. Jones (71). Not Used: Day. Sin Bin: C. Jones (36). Sent Off: Lobbe (4).
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