Food for thought

BEATEN by double scores and still flattered by the 22-11 scoreline, Munster limped away from Kingsholm on Saturday knowing they have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the knock-out stages of the Heineken European Cup for the sixth successive year.

Gloucester, visibly aching to avenge the humiliating reverse they suffered when the sides last met at Thomond Park 12 months ago, played the game at a pace Munster just couldn't match. Were it not for a sterling defence, Munster might well have been at the receiving end of a serious hammering and now they have a mere seven days to regroup for what is sure to be a mammoth task in Limerick. Defeat there and it's as good as curtains for Alan Gaffney's men. If they don't step up appreciably on this and other distinctly poor recent performances (remember Connacht and the 3-0 Celtic League fiasco), then they will be in serious trouble.

Paul O'Connell, one of the few Munster players to emerge with credit from the occasion, put it succinctly: "Gloucester are a seriously good team. They beat Leicester in Leicester last week quite convincingly and we were doing cartwheels when we did it last year, so it just goes to show how good they are."

Leicester's demolition by Ulster yesterday may contextualise that comparison but the point is well made, nonetheless. How Munster emerged with a level try count (one each) remains a miracle, a point not lost on Gaffney who held up his hands and agreed that Gloucester were by far the better side.

"We spent a lot of time in our own half and it was difficult for us to get out," he accepted. "Our line-out and set pieces were poor and they were cuter and smarter as well. We had a good spell after half time when we nearly got a try but that was about it."

With the line-out nothing short of a disaster area for Munster and the scrum creaking at almost every put-in, they were under pressure from the outset. Set piece possession, such as it was, came slowly and imprecisely. Peter Stringer suffered as a consequence and Ronan O'Gara, without space and time, also had one of his poorer games in a Munster shirt.

Gloucester, on the other hand, controlled things beautifully all through.

They got off to just the kind of start they wanted when new full-back Jon Goodridge derived huge confidence from the perfect catch of a towering O'Gara garryowen within the opening minute.

Frankie Sheahan's first throw soared over the back into the welcoming arms of the thundering Junior Paramore. We didn't realise it at the time but it wasn't going to get better.

Runners like Henry Paul, Terry Fanolua, Marcel Gavey and James Simpson-Daniel were in their element. The ball came their way frequently and at speed. Somehow, the Munster defence stood firm as the tackles went in, the gaps were closed off and the ground was covered.

Gloucester, who were just a little too flash at times for their own good, didn't even lead at half time, Henry Paul's eight minute penalty cancelled out by another from O'Gara three minutes later. But it was all Gloucester and their director of rugby, Nigel Melville, made a telling point subsequently when he pointed out that "while we had the ball, they were working hard, much harder than we were, and that proved crucial in the end."

There were times when the notion of a Munster recovery entered one's head. We wondered if a Jim Williams take of a Gloucester throw on the half hour might prove a turning point and on half time they rolled a maul so effectively that Gloucester were forced to collapse it to stop the momentum.

O'Gara missed from 35 metres.

Almost immediately on the turnover, they produced their best movement of the day, a sweeping attack down the left with Rob Henderson making the initial incision and Anthony Horgan crashing through Garvey's tackle.

Gloucester cynically infringed, O'Gara tapped over the penalty to put his side 6-3 ahead and suddenly, we thought, it's game on.

Instead, Gloucester upped the pace to an even higher level. They ran Munster ragged and when Henry Paul opted for the chip kick through in the 46th minute, the defence, for once, was nowhere and James Simpson-Daniel had the simple task of touching down for a try which Paul converted.

He then landed a penalty in the 57th minute to open the gap to 13-6 and up to this point, Munster could have had no complaints with Welsh referee Nigel Williams.

Now, however, he was about to take centre stage with a quick hat-trick of decisions that hurt the visitors to the core.

60th minute: Williams signalled for a close range Munster penalty while allowing play to carry on. With unseemly haste, he then announced that the advantage was over. Three points gone a-begging.

61st minute: The referee decides that Donnacha O'Callaghan has knocked on in a tackle when even the most ardent Gloucester supporter agreed that the ball had gone backwards, not forward.

62nd minute: Munster penalised at their own line-out. Paul slots the penalty. 16-6 to Gloucester.

You have to suspect that this segment had a devastating affect on the Munster side. O'Gara's restart failed to travel the required ten metres. The pressure was back on.

Duncan McRae missed a sitter of a drop goal but Paul's fourth penalty made it 19-6 after yet another shambolic Munster line-out. To state the obvious, this Munster side doesn't cave in and showed their mettle with a powerful attack into the Gloucester 22 which culminated in O'Gara's perfectly timed and executed pass giving Horgan the chance to crash through and over for a fine try.

A successful O'Gara conversion would have put Munster in bonus point territory, but he was off target and Paul was to have the last say with a close range drop goal. Even then there was time for Munster to suffer the indignity of a yellow card for O'Callaghan. At the final whistle, there was a perfunctory handshake between O'Gara and McRae. It was that kind of day and now it remains to be seen if they can pick themselves up in time for the big one at Thomond Park on Saturday. After this comprehensive defeat, nobody is exactly singing from the treetops with Paul O'Connell speaking for the majority when stressing: "We've done it before but it's going to be a mammoth task."

MUNSTER: S. Payne; J. Kelly, M. Mullins, R. Henderson, A. Horgan; R. O'Gara, P. Stringer; M.Horan, F. Sheahan, J. Hayes, D. O'Callaghan, P. O'Connell, J. Williams capt, D. Wallace, A. Foley. Replacements: G. McIlwham for Horan 55 mins.

GLOUCESTER: J. Goodridge; M. Garvey, T. Fanolua (R. Todd), H. Paul, J. Simpson-Daniel; D. McRae, A. Gomarsall; T. Woodmans, C. Collins, A. Deacon, A. Brown, M. Cornwell, J. Boer capt, P. Buxton, J. Paramore. Replacements: R. Todd for Fanolua, 68 mins; A. Eustace for Cornwell 77.

Referee N. Williams (Wales).