Fantastic Foley has never been prouder

THE BROAD beam on Anthony Foley’s face told the full story.

He admitted he has never been prouder of a Munster team than he was in the Stade Pierre Antoine last night even though it was his 72nd Heineken Cup “cap.” Never one to brag or oversell himself or his teams, he was nevertheless fully justified in lauding the performance of this particular side as it silenced the 8,200 fans with a breathtaking display.

“I hate to say I told you so but I was convinced there was a really big performance in this side,” said Foley.

“The side tonight was a nice blend of youth and experience and we are all delighted especially for Ian Dowling and Barry Murphy, who fully justified their inclusion. It’s never easy to come to France and win but we seem to have the knack when it matters most.

“However, we must remember that the job is still far from done. We now have to take on the top team in England at Thomond Park next Saturday and no matter what our record there might be, a defeat would probably mean the end of the road but we’ll let you fellas worry about that, we’re going to enjoy this.”

Paul O’Connell had another mighty game in the Munster second-row but was a little embarrassed at the second of his tries which he scored in the extreme right corner, usually the domain of a wing three-quarter. “Gaillimh (Mick Galwey) won’t think a whole lot of that, second-rows scoring winger’s tries and that kind of stuff and I probably shouldn’t have been there,” he grinned.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to get motivated for games and there have been a few bad performances from the team in recent times. But I never doubted we would put things right because of the fabulous work ethic in the side.”

O’Connell also warned that “next week we are probably meeting the best team in world rugby at the moment and it’s going to be a massive task to beat them.”

Like Declan Kidney, forwards coach Brian Hickey doesn’t tend to get carried away no matter how impressive the result but he confessed to being “more delighted with the way the result was achieved than with the win itself.

“People have little idea of how difficult the wind was out there, not was it just tricky but also gusty and so full marks to the two hookers, Jerry Flannery and Denis Fogarty, for the accuracy of their throwing. We mixed it up well out there and the backs ran very good lines. Our midfield attack has been criticised but there wasn’t much wrong with it tonight, was there? We saw glimpses of what the team could do in Edinburgh last week but we got a few good bounces tonight and we took advantage.”