Melville: Munster will be our biggest test yet

NIGEL MELVILLE, the former England scrumhalf who had a glittering career cruelly cut short by serious injury, is, these days, directing rugby affairs at Gloucester.

The English West Country club take on Munster in the Heineken Cup at Kingsholm tomorrow, and if events had worked out differently he might well have been in the other side’s dugout for this clash. Melville was linked with the Munster job at a time when he was severing his connection with London Wasps and the Irish province was seeking a replacement for Declan Kidney.

“It sounded interesting but it never went very far and once the offer from Gloucester came up, there was never any contest,” he said. “I know all about the tradition of Munster rugby and that was part of the attraction, but obviously I wanted to stay in England and now I’m settled at one of the great bastions of the game in this country.

“Saturday’s game has got to be my biggest challenge since I came here. Some people don’t realise how big a step up it is. These are huge games. There are no easy teams in any pool and we could have faced a tougher start and gone away to Perpignan or Toulouse. Equally, we know it is pretty hard for any team to come to Kingsholm for the first game of the campaign and that’s something we have got to capitalise on.

“Munster are a very good side and very physical, but so is every other side in the European Cup. There is no hiding place, there are no walkovers. In terms of passion, I don’t think there’s anything that will come near this group. Perpignan are unbelievably passionate, so are Munster and so are we. We have lots in common with the people of Munster and their feelings about the game so Saturday will be very special.”

Meanwhile, Chris White, the English referee who handled two of Munster’s three Heineken Cup semi-finals and was at the centre of the disallowed John O’Neill try controversy in the Stade Francais game in Lille in 2000, has been giving some free advice to the Gloucester players. White is a native of nearby Cheltenham and would doubtless like to see Gloucester progress to the knock-out stages. But he has told Melville and co just how difficult it is going to be to see off Munster.

“The cherry and whites must create a pressure cooker dominance to win,” he says. “It will be a classic occasion. I was impressed with what I saw when I ref’d Munster in their Celtic League win over Neath last week. It was more or less their first outing as a team and they were a little rusty at times. But the halfbacks played well, which suggests the forwards were doing something right.

“I think Gloucester’s power will tell as the game goes on. Munster pride themselves on their defence and sure enough, they conceded only one try against Neath and that was when they were down to 14 men. Ronan O’Gara had an outstanding game, although I am sure he will be under more pressure this time.”

The referee tomorrow is Joel Dume, the Frenchman who sinbinned Mick Galwey at a crucial stage of the 2000 final against Northampton at Twickenham. White insists Dume’s experience will be all-important: “He’ll be no stranger to what goes on or to the pressure.”

Gloucester don’t boast anything like Munster’s experience of European rugby although they did qualify for the Heineken Cup in 2000/01 and reached the semi-final stage before losing 19-15 to Leicester.

The makeup of the side has changed considerably even in that short space of time, with Tom Walkinshaw of Arrows Formula One motor racing fame dipping deep into his pockets to bring a stream of world-class figures to Kingsholm.

They include the brilliant Samoan flanker Junior Paramore but typical of Walkinshaw’s luck, he is ruled out of tomorrow’s game because of injury.

Things haven’t exactly going according to plan for Walkinshaw, who has lost a great deal of money because of the trials and tribulations of the Arrows and even yesterday he was involved in a court action involving one of his drivers.

Accordingly, serious questions are being asked about the future of the Gloucester Rugby Club, with several people close to the scene fearing Walkinshaw may well cut and run because of his financial problems. I was assured last night by those close to the scene here that the players are happy with the situation “for the moment” but it is also widely known that many harbour fears about what may lie around the corner.

Acquiring the services of the former celebrated rugby league star Henry Paul (who plays at fullback tomorrow) doesn’t come cheaply, nor do players of the calibre of the French pair Olivier Ozam and Ludovic Mercier, England and Lions prop and team captain Phil Vickery, the South Africans Thynus Delport (unavailable tomorrow because of chicken pox) and Jake Boer, Argentineans Rodrigo Roncero and Simon Amor and, of course, Paramore and Terry Fanolua.

As is their custom, Gloucester won’t announce their side until shortly before the kickoff, but don’t be surprised if it reads like this:

GLOUCESTER: H Paul; M Garvey, T Fanolua, R Todd, T Beim; L Mercier, A Gomarsall; T Woodman, O Azam, P Vickery, A Eustace, M Cornwell, J Boer, J Forrester, P Buxton.

Replacements: J Simpson-Daniel, S Amor, C Stuart-Smith; R Roncero, C Fortey, R Fidler, A Hazell.