Munster seize the initiative

Neath-Swansea Ospreys 18 Munster 20

“I was watching them warm-up beforehand and during all their practice line-outs they didn’t get one wrong. They didn’t give us a sniff of a try all afternoon, they didn’t give away a penalty in the last few minutes. That’s the sign of an experienced side. We have to try and emulate that. We’re a couple of per cent off that level, but we’ll get there.”

Alan Gaffney will be pleased to hear that, though not fooled. His side came out the right side of a frantic Heineken Cup Pool 4 assignment battered but breathing, propelling them into next month’s double date with Castres atop the pool. The Ospreys laid siege to Munster’s line late on, leaving visiting supporters and coach Gaffney gasping for breath. When it was over, hundreds of fans poured onto the pitch in raucous appreciation of another outstanding effort. “It was heart-stopping stuff at times,” admitted the coach, “but we spent a lot of time perfecting our defensive formation and the guys did a magnificent job. It wasn’t easy having to defend for such long periods but after that I’d bet on them against any team.”

Perhaps so. With second half resilience came the discipline that was frustratingly absent in the first period. “The referee didn’t like the way we were contesting the rucks and his law stands,” argued Gaffney. “We should have worked that out much earlier than we did. In the second half, we improved considerably and I was delighted to see the way we coped under pressure in the last quarter. When it was most important, no penalties were conceded.” Despite an early penalty from Ospreys’ sharp-shooting No 10, Gavin Henson, Munster started assuredly, and Ronan O’Gara knocked over two penalties to give his side a 6-3 lead. However, the visitors irked referee Joel Jutge to an extent that had Henson been as surefooted as his opposite number, Neath-Swansea could have been in the box seat at the interval. He landed two penalties, but missed three more as the Ospreys edged 12-6 in front, looking to capitalise on the sin-binning of Jim Williams, yellow-carded for driving into a ruck from the wrong side.

Indeed, O’Gara’s penalty in first-half injury-time was worth more in psychological terms that the three points on the board.

“Ronan was quite brilliant at times,” agreed Gaffney. “He kicked us out of trouble and kept them on the back foot at crucial times of the match. We had to play for a bit of territory and Ronan played it ideally.”

Peter Stringer has occasionally been charged with a lack of extravagance behind the scrum, but his antennae are never down. His awareness in skipping in for the game’s only try was priceless. Munster’s scrum near the Ospreys line was full-on and the scrum-half was shaping up to move possession to his left when he spotted a gap on the blind side. He darted unopposed through and did his best to make the conversion attempt easier by running in closer to the posts.

O’Gara failure to add the bonus assumed greater importance when Henson restored the Ospreys lead at 15-14, but he made amends in the 58th minute with a penalty that restored Munster’s two point advantage (17-15). He made it 20-15 nine minutes later, but Henson’s 28th minute penalty left Munster in a perilous position, not least when the crowd sensed a winning drop goal attempt on the way in the final minute of regulation time.

“We can reflect on this error or that, but ultimately we did have more errors than Munster,” Ospreys coach Jones said. “We were in a nice position for a drop-goal. We got a couple of extra yards but we smelt the white line. If we have been a bit more composed we could have fed it back to Gavin (Henson) but we didn’t.”

After the thumping loss in Castres, the Welsh media were inclined to generate a mood of optimism afterwards, but the home coach was having none of it.

“Those sort of (hard luck) statements have been going around Welsh rugby for years. I don’t want to go there, I thought we were good enough to win but it just wasn’t quite there.”

In the frantic final minutes, Munster’s front eight were immense, none more so than John Hayes. “It was one of his best games for Munster,” said Gaffney. “He turned over an amount of ball and the back row performed very well as a unit too. From where we were last week, we have moved forward. Our line-out was better and our scrum much stronger.”

Both sides must have been buoyed by Saturday’s draw in the other pool encounter at The Stoop between Harlequins and Castres, but for Munster, the next two fixtures loom large. “There is a lot of hard graft to be done. Next up is a visit to Castres and we won’t have much time with our international players before that. They’re off on national duty for the next few weeks and we’ll have them for only five days before we head to France. “I’m just glad to have got this one out of the way. It’s a nice position to be in, two games down and two wins. Pity we couldn’t have picked up a bonus point.”

OSPREYS: A. Durston, R. Mustoe, S. Parker, E. Seveali’I, S. Williams, G. Henson, J. Spice; D. Jones, B. Williams (captain), A. Jones, A. Newman, B. Cockbain, J. Bater, R. Jones, S. Tandy.

Replacements: P. James for D. Jones, R. Pugh for Tandy (both 65).

MUNSTER: C. Cullen, J. Kelly, S. Payne, R. Henderson, A. Horgan, R. O’Gara, P. Stringer; M. Horan, F. Sheahan, J. Hayes, D. O’Callaghan, P. O’Connell, J. Williams, A. Foley (captain), D. Wallace.

Replacements: A. Quinlan for Williams (80), temporary, G. McIllwham for Horan (23-32]

Referee: J. Jutge (France).