Long awaited title within grasp

ALMOST eight months to the day, Munster return to the Millennium Stadium where last May they suffered their disappointing Heineken Cup final defeat at the hands of Leicester.

This time, the prize at stake is the Celtic League and it’s one well worth winning according to the leading personalities associated with both teams.

The bookmakers and the public believe Munster are sure-fire winners this afternoon, largely due, one supposes, to their miraculous result against Gloucester.

But this is Cardiff, not Thomond Park, and the opposition comes from a Welsh side, Neath, who won’t be chockful of the complacency that afflicted Gloucester, and who have the huge incentive of capturing a major title just as they are facing extinction under the pending Welsh Union cost cutting exercise.

“The parlous state of the game in Wales will have no bearing on how we perform,” declared Neath coach Lyn Jones.

“Just like Munster, we are a proud bunch of guys and we’re going out to do our best. The performances of the Welsh teams last year was embarrassing, we had so many in the competition and we couldn’t get one through to the semi-finals.

"This year, we’ve had three in the quarters, two in the semis and one in the final and we’re very proud and pleased about that“.

You sense that the Welsh All Blacks, as they are known, mean business. Theyhave the confidence booster of last season’s 28-20 win over Munster at the Gnoll.

They know it can be done and believe they have a forward pack, led by veteran captain Gareth Llewellyn, that will contain the favourites and a set of halfbacks in Lee Jarvis and Andy Moore capable of controlling the match.

Jarvis will be of particular interest to the Munstermen, for if there’s a player anywhere they should beware of, it is the shaven headed Neath No 10.

Munster have only ever lost once at home in the Heineken Cup and that was to Cardiff at Musgrave Park in 1998 when Jarvis contributed 27 of their points in a 37-32 victory.

The same year, he scored a try and kicked a penalty from well inside his own half in the return match. Last season, he scored all 28 points in that Celtic League thriller and clearly sees no reason why he should fear Munster.

Still, he may be living in the past when he claimed: “Munster do not play a lot of rugby and instead thrive on opposition mistakes.”

It was cold but relatively calm and dry in Cardiff yesterday and more of the same is forecast for today, meaning the conditions should suit Munster.

There won’t be any need to close the roof. Munster like to spread it wide, but as coach Alan Gaffney stressed they won’t be playing Barbarian rugby and are expecting a very hard game.

“The scoreline (35-19) at the Gnoll in October flattered us,” he said. “The game was a very tough one. We scored two tries from turnovers in the first half, one just before half time which had a big bearing on the outcome.

"They play a similar style to us, so it’s going to be a dogfight, a hard battle, one we’re looking forward to.”

Jonessupported Gaffney’s view and expanded on the previous meeting of the sides at the Gnoll: “That game was a watershed for us. It highlighted a lot of the inadequacies on and off the field for Neath RFC.

"Since then we’ve worked hard at putting things right. We have some nice technical zones at The Gnoll now. I was looking at the Munster technical zone which was overflowing with people and we had about three in ours and I was looking for volunteers to make up a crowd.

"That showed the difference provincial rugby would bring to Wales, not just the centralising of the better players, but the back-up team the players need.”

Jones is not overawed by the task awaiting his side, pointing out there are two strong teams up front with a good kicking presence at outhalf.

True, but you expect Munster to be ready for Jarvis (he’s a strange mixture, only 26 and has represented Wales at every level and yet has only one full senior cap) this time.

Not only that, but Ronan O’Gara has the pace and experience to provide the kicking game and the cutting edge in attack to get the best from his back division.

Both sides are missing key players because of injury. Gaffney has included the fit-again Rob Henderson in place of Colm McMahon in the replacements while Jones has opted for New Zealander Brett Jenkinson at No 7 ahead of Steve Tandy.

Anthony Foley insisted there won’t be any complacency in the Munster camp after the result against Gloucester. “Two or three days later we were still in awe of what we had done. But we’ve had a few hard training sessions in the meantime and now we’re really looking forward to this.”

The definite feeling is that the much talked about elusive piece of silverware will be returning on board flight SI 2087 shortly after seven o’clock this evening.