‘It was always going to be a battle’

EVERY now and then the GAA calendar throws up a double header which sees a hurling match followed minutes later by a game of football. It’s on such occasions that football suffers by comparison.

Saturday’s Heineken Cup menu offered up something similar, with Munster and Perpignan taking to the stage just after the curtains had drawn on what was quite possibly the greatest shoot-out in the cup’s history.

As it was, both sides stuck to the script by serving up a no-frills forward-orientated game.