"No matter what team, no matter what the circumstances, you never write off a Munster team."

“No matter what team, no matter what the circumstances, you never write off a Munster team.”

REMEMBER the Siege of Limerick in 1690? Cromwell’s army was on an all-conquering rampage through Ireland when it came to this fortress town on the banks of the Shannon with very high expectations.

Even with superior forces and weaponry, they never got beyond the walls and were humiliated into signing a Treaty (which, of course, they broke shortly afterwards). Those events gave Limerick its place in history as a place of proud and mighty warriors.

Fast forward, October 31st 1978. Another all-conquering army is in town. The mighty All-Blacks; unbeaten on an 18-match tour with one exception: at Thomond Park, where Munster prevailed 12-0; more history, It even has a play dedicated to the occasion; but does it stand alone?

On January 18, 2003, yet another powerful invading force from England arrives, albeit strictly in a sporting sense. Just like Sale Sharks this afternoon, Gloucester came to Thomond Park in pole position to top their Heineken Cup group, qualify for a home quarter-final, and, most significantly of all, defeat Munster in their fortress.

With a vastly inferior point-scoring and try-scoring difference, Munster needed to outscore Gloucester by four tries and 27 points to top the group and gain qualification themselves. It subsequently became known as The Miracle Match. On an unforgettable evening, Munster achieved the improbable, won 33-6 and got the four tries. Instant comparisons with the 1978 All-Black win ensued.

Brendan Foley, father of current Munster captain Anthony, played in the second-row against the All-Blacks; Alan Quinlan, currently recovering from injury, was in the back-row against Gloucester. This week, at the Castletroy Park Hotel in Limerick, they met over lunch, to look back on both of those heady days.

Diarmuid O’Flynn listened in.

Diarmuid O’Flynn: Brendan, that 1978 Munster team is revered, but the ’73 version almost beat ye to it.

BF: That’s right. Munster were leading 3-0 with only minutes to go, gave away an equalising penalty under the posts. Only two props on the team (Phil O’Callaghan of Dolphin, Kevin Keyes of Sunday’s Well), one of them gave away the penalty, but each of them still swears it was the other guy! It doesn’t matter, we’ll always be very grateful to that prop. Three times Munster played them in the 70’s - 1973, ’74 and ’78; I wasn’t involved in ’73, and I was a sub in ’74. Donal Canniffe said lately he played in the three games. He always saw it as a rubber series; they won one, we won one, one was tied, but we won the series on aggregate!

DO’F: A decade-long series, then. How seriously was it taken?

BF: At the time, very seriously. Things wouldn’t have been as well organised then, but we went to London on a bit of a tour before the game; Cork for half-eight on the Friday morning for the flight, from Heathrow then to the centre of London for lunch, in a heatwave. Because of the traffic, we had to leave at three o’clock to play Middlesex, at a ground near Heathrow. We were walloped, not surprisingly, I suppose. The following morning we were training in this college beside the Thames.

AQ: Sick from drink, no doubt?

BF: Sick from drink, but a lot sicker by the time we were finished, because Tommy Kiernan gave us an unmerciful session. He laid it on the line for us. We were the ones playing the All-Blacks, it was up to us to decide whether we wanted to put in the effort or not.

DO’F: How hard were those All-Blacks?

BF: They were hard enough alright, but the referee was excellent. One kick at goal all match, very few penalties: it was a very clean match. I remember, about seven minutes to go, Moss Keane asked him: “How much time is left?” “They’re not going to beat ye now!” he replied.

DO’F: It’s a pity Munster don’t get to play the likes of New Zealand anymore.

BF: It is; thanks to professionalism, it looks like our record is going to stand for a good while longer. When teams come over now, they only want to play the Test matches.

AQ: It is a shame that the modern-day Munster player is missing out on that, it would be fantastic to play one of the touring teams, the All-Blacks especially.

DO’F: How would ye have done?

AQ: I’m not sure to be honest, they proved themselves an awesome side. The three provinces in the Heineken Cup would give any international team a good rattle, and that’s with no disrespect to Connacht either. Most of us have a good sprinkling of international players now; we have close enough to a full international side when everyone is available. The same goes for Leinster, Ulster. A lot of guys with experience of Test matches, they’d know how to play those games. New Zealand are an awesome side, but it would have been great to see how they’d have handled Thomond Park, especially given the history of the place - and that win in ‘78.

DO’F: Tell us about that Gloucester game; did ye know the story, beforehand, what ye needed to do?

AQ: No, we didn’t. We knew we had put ourselves in an awful position, lost two games in the group, though Gloucester had lost one as well. We knew we were well behind on points difference and tries scored, but we didn’t actually do all the permutations. Maybe that was a good ploy by the management team. Go out and win, score as much as ye can, go after them, that’s all we were told. From the word go, it was unbelievable, a great buzz in the dressing-room beforehand. Coming to the ground, I was expecting it all to be a bit subdued, to be honest, but it was amazing the way the supporters came out, the atmosphere was awesome. By half-time, we had two tries, halfway there, even though we genuinely didn’t know the score. The first I knew about the points scenario was when Micko (O’Driscoll) scored the try in the second half, the word went around that we needed the conversion, then don’t concede any more points. And of course I got caught for a penalty in a ruck; luckily for me, (Andy) Gomersall did a quick tap and go, and that was that. If they’d taken the kick, gone ahead of us, who knows? But the whole thing was a fantastic experience. It’s difficult to compare with any other game. Everyone just rolled up the sleeves.

DO’F: What is it about Munster?

AQ: I don’t know. No matter what team, no matter what the circumstances, what the personnel, there’s something there that you never write off a Munster team. I don’t know, maybe it’s hidden behind the crest, maybe it’s just the jersey itself, but there’s just so much heart there.

BF: For someone from Munster, to play with Munster is the ultimate. Playing for Ireland is then a bonus but to play for Munster is the ultimate honour, and it’s been that way for over 100 years. All you have to do is look at the results against touring teams. I remember as a kid going to see Munster in Thomond Park, against South Africa, they were beaten the same day, but not by much. I remember another occasion going to Cork in the back of a van, 12 of us, 1967 or ‘68, Munster beat Australia. That was a Tuesday but there was still a massive crowd.

DO’F: What did ye do after the Gloucester game?

AQ: We went for a bit of grub at the reception back at Claw’s (Peter Clohessy’s), the Sin Bin, a few pints. Their reaction was pure shock, I think. They hadn’t expected it, or anything like it.

BF: We had an official dinner with them (All-Blacks) afterwards, and they had no choice but to try and put it behind them quickly, they were playing Ireland the following Saturday (drew 11-11). They actually came into the meal in a line, one behind the other, singing: “Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s on the piss we go.”

DO’F: Is there much interaction between modern players, after matches?

AQ: It’s hard after away games, you’re back on the road again very quickly, but we meet a lot of the older players in different situations. There is a lot of respect there for the ‘78 team especially, for everyone that’s gone before us. The Claw (Peter Clohessy) and Gaillimh (Mick Galwey) were links to that era, when I came on the Munster scene; two outstanding characters, but two outstanding rugby-players also, they typified everything that Munster was about. I love meeting those guys, but the day when you could go away and have gallons of porter after the game is gone. It’s your job now, you have a responsibility to yourself, to the team, to the supporters, to try and maximise what you’ve got. We’ll have plenty of time afterwards, hopefully, to look back and enjoy it, but these are different times. You either want it or you don’t, and if you do, that’s the sacrifice that’s demanded of the modern-day player.

DO’F: Was the All-Black win the highlight of your career, Brendan?

BF: At the time it wasn’t, no.

AQ: Ye didn’t have any idea of the impact it was going to have.

BF: Not a clue. At the time I still hadn’t played in Lansdowne Road with Ireland, in fact I won five caps away from home, including two against New Zealand, before I played for Ireland at home. That happened, finally, in 1980, when we beat Wales for the first time in something like 10 years.

DO’F: An obvious question Brendan, but would you have liked a European Cup in your day?

BF: We would of course. We had only a max of five matches a season. Normally, you had just the three interpros. Leinster did have an extra game, against Toulon over in France; they beat us one year, (Barry) McGann was captain, and at the dinner afterwards, he said the problem was that Leinster played Toulon, Munster played too loose!

DO’F: What about the Munster support?

BF: Quite rightly, crowd control has come in, in a big way, but going back to ‘78, that was an all-ticket game, with the tickets being sold down the road from the ground. When they ran out of tickets, they just ran back up and got more, recycled those that had already been used, so we had a bit of extra support!

AQ: If I was involved in stewarding on Saturday, I would just open the gates, take down all the barriers, let people jump over the wall, whatever; let everyone in, pack the place. Obviously that can’t be done safely, but it’s a shame that a lot of genuine supporters won’t be able to get to the game. We’re going to need every one of them. Of all the teams that have come to Thomond Park over the last few years, Sale are the team I’d worry most about.

BF: They’re very strong up front.

AQ: People are saying they’re untried, untested in a venue like this, but I believe we won’t get away with anything other than our very best. I think all the lads realise this, no-one underestimates them. We’re going to need the crowd behind us like never before, this one is as big as we’ve ever had. I know people talk about the Miracle Match, other huge games, but this is probably the best team to come to Thomond Park yet, the most complete team. I believe we’ll win, but it will be close.