Back: no backlash for the ‘hand of God’
PAYBACK at Welford Road could be a working title for a novel, but Munster coach Alan Gaffney saw it coming yesterday like the punchline from a poor joke.
“No and no,” responded Gaffney to queries about possible Munster hang-ups on the venue for Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter final and the infamous ‘Backhander’ episode which soured last year’s final in Cardiff.
“I am not particularly worried about having to play at Welford Road,” he insisted as he named a 26 man squad for the clash against champions Leicester. “Obviously it would have been far nicer to play at Thomond Park but it’s not to be and we have to get on with it.”
Gaffney experienced the effect of the home crowd in Leicester when he was involved with Leinster in a
quarter-final last season.
Even though the Tigers emerged with a 29-18 win, Gaffney doesn’t believe it had much to do with the crowd.
“I think visiting players would be much more intimidated by Thomond Park than Welford Road. Yes, they are pretty vocal, passionate, and they know the game inside out, but I found them to be quite fair in the sense that they applauded us last year whenever we produced good passages of play.
“I would have no worries about Munster being intimidated by the crowd. They, more than any other Irish team, perhaps more than any other team in Europe, have learned to overcome some amazing hurdles away from home and particularly in France where the crowd doesn’t tend to be that welcoming.”
The coach also insisted that they had put last season’s defeat and the Neil Back incident out of the minds.
“It would be very foolish of us to dwell on either of these things. The players understand the process we have to go through to achieve what we want to achieve and it has nothing to do with the past. We’re only concerned with the future.
“If we can get things together and play the way we are capable of, we’re going to be in with a shout. Nothing that happened last season will make any difference to that.”
In overall terms, he declared that the outcome of that game would mean little either. “We have done a lot of research on Leicester but nothing special is related to that cup final. Leicester have a way of playing the game which is very much them.
“I don’t think it has changed a hell of a lot in that time. It’s a well proven formula and a very successful one.”
Referring to last week’s Zurich Premiership win over Sale, Gaffney said that Leicester were much too strong up front, getting to the breakdown first and disrupting Sale’s pattern of forward play.
“When they wanted to, Leicester played a very expansive game by keeping the ball in hand and they were still clever enough to switch the run of play by driving up the middle just to keep Sale guessing.
“There are things we know they do very well and ball retention is one of those. They’re a pretty good all round side that are capable of adapting to pretty much any circumstances.”
Naturally, following Munster’s demolition of Gloucester, comparisons were made between the two sides.
Gloucester were described as a “powerful outfit” by Gaffney, but the Munster coach added: “In European terms, there is a major difference in terms of experience. Leicester have been at the top for much longer, they have four of the current English pack plus guys like Martin Corry, Darren Garforth and Josh Kronfeld. That’s some experience in numbers alone.”
Munster’s 26 man squad will be cut to 22 tomorrow before the team is announced on Friday. Apart from David Wallace and John O'Neill, all 26 reported a clean bill of health yesterday.
It is particularly good news for Gaffney that Anthony Horgan and Rob Henderson have both stormed into contention for places.
Horgan is virtually guaranteed his place on the left wing but Henderson will have to battle with Jason Holland for one of the two centre positions.
Munster laid as much emphasis on off the field activity as they did on training yesterday. Explaining that the team hadn’t had much time to prepare, Gaffney emphasised that the mood within the squad was very positive.
“We spent a lot more time indoors than we planned but we had to throw around ideas amongst ourselves as to what we expect and what we want to achieve. It is vital that we set aside some time to work out our plan of campaign and to come up with new ideas as to how we can attack them - and make that attack pay.
MUNSTER: Backs: J. Staunton, D. Crotty, J. Kelly, M. Lawlor, A. Horgan, M. Mullins, K. Keane, R. Henderson, J. Holland, R. O'Gara, P. Stringer, D. Malone.
Forwards: M. Horan, S. Kerr, J. Hayes, F. Sheahan, J. Blaney, P. O'Connell, M. Galwey, D. O'Callaghan, M. O'Driscoll, E. Halvey, D. Leamy, A. Quinlan, A. Foley, J. Williams (captain).
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