Rampant O’Gara torments Llanelli

Llanelli 13 Munster 20

The Munster No 10 could not have picked a better stage on which to prove he is ready to spearhead the Irish World Cup qualifying challenge against Romania.

They know a few things about outside halves at Stradey Park Carwyn James, Barry John, Phil Bennett and Jonathan Davies and the locals were bracketing O'Gara's one-man show alongside those of the past greats.

His goalkicking was almost perfect five out of five penalties and a near miss with a touchline conversion and his punting was even better.

Time after time he turned the Llanelli defence with his tactical kicking and then he really put the boot in with his final contribution.

An inch-perfect cross kick from right to left, covering the whole width of the field, bounced into the arms of Mossy Lawlor to enable the wing to cross in the corner for the try that broke the hearts of the home side.

Just in case you ever thought he had gone away, O'Gara is back. And back to his very, very best.

"It was good to be back at Stradey Park and kicking well. Things didn't go so well down in New Zealand with the Adidas ball," admitted O'Gara.

"But I was pleased with my goalkicking and especially my punting. We've got a great team spirit and to beat a good side like Llanelli with all our injuries is a great start to the season."

It most certainly was. You never really know how a team is going to fare until they have been through a competitive match, but it looks as though Munster are back in the old routine even without Jim Williams, David Wallace, Frankie Sheahan, John O'Neill and Anthony Horgan.

No wonder new coach Alan Gaffney was all smiles at the end of his first real contest in charge of the men in red. He knows there is plenty of work to be done, but there was plenty to encourage him as he dreams of making it third time lucky in the Heineken Cup final.

As well as O'Gara's obvious contribution, the work rate of the young second-row pair of Donnacha O'Callaghan and Mick O'Driscoll shocked the home side, Peter Stringer went through his full array of tricks at scrum-half and Mike Mullins and Rob Henderson at centre made life miserable for the home attackers and defenders.

And then there was Marcus Horan. With Llanelli going all out for the try that would have put them ahead in the final few minutes, the Shannon prop conjured up a moment of sheer magic when he found himself confronted in midfield by one of Welsh rugby's quickest men, Mark Jones.

It looked like being a mismatch, but Horan showed an amazing turn of speed for a big man and hauled down Jones near half way. More than that, he helped to dislodge the ball to create a turnover. Now it was Llanelli's turn to panic as Stringer darted away into the home 22. The Munster pack delivered the ball and O'Gara kicked to Lawlor for the game-breaking try.

The score might be credited to Lawlor, and its creation to O'Gara, but the Munster front row union must claim an assist for Horan. That moment more than any other typified the Munster spirit and led Gaffney to praise his new charges.

"Munster have so much passion, they have an X factor that I can't quite put my finger on just yet. We were as rusty as can be, but to come to a place like Llanelli and get a win like that shows the character of the side," said Gaffney.

"The players didn't need me to tell them at half-time where the weaknesses were. They instinctively knew and worked them out.

"We only got together as a full squad on Monday when our Irish squad members came back from the national camp. So to get a result like that after only four simple training sessions is very pleasing.

"We weren't top drawer and there is huge room for improvement. That's what we are aiming for, but it wasn't a bad start."

Llanelli coach Gareth Jenkins was left ruing two golden try-scoring opportunities his side threw away either side of the interval.

With O'Gara leading Stephen Jones by three penalties to two in the first half, Jones charged down a Stringer clearance on the Munster 22, regathered and seemed to have sent Wayne Proctor in for a try.

But with the line at his mercy, Proctor dropped the ball. It was a similar story early in the second half when Llanelli's other international wing, Mark Jones, dropped a Guy Easterby box kick he had tracked perfectly.

With nobody ahead of him, Jones would have scored had he taken the easy catch. Not even his try at the left corner, when Munster were down to 14 men with Mike Mullins in the sin bin for a high tackle, could redeem him.

So Munster go marching on, even if it will be without their Irish internationals over the next four weeks, and once again they look like being one of the teams to beat this season.

Scorers: Llanelli: Try: M Jones; Con: S Jones; Pens: S Jones 2. Munster: Try: M Lawlor; Pens: R O'Gara 5.

LLANELLI: G Evans; W Proctor, M Watkins, M Cardey, M Jones; S Jones, G Easterby (D Peel 60); I Thomas, R McBryde, M Madden (J Davies 67), V Cooper (captain), P Clapham, S Easterby, I Boobyer, S Quinnell.

MUNSTER: D Crotty (J Staunton 64); J Kelly, M Mullins (sin bin 66 76), R Henderson, M Lawlor; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, J Blaney, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, E Halvey (C McMahon 70), A Quinlan, A Foley (captain).

Referee: R Dixon (Scotland).