No fairytale ending for valiant Munster

THERE’S something odd about this Munster odyssey. It may not have the fairytale ending we’re all waiting for.

A valiant effort in a vibrating Heineken Cup semi-final wasn’t enough, as ill-luck and ill-discipline saw Munster’s bid for a third final in five years come up short. Again.

A last-gasp try from Wasps hooker Trevor Leota brought sweet revenge for Warren Gatland, the visiting coach ungraciously dispensed with by the IRFU three years ago. He celebrated the 37-32 victory with a Harvey Smith smile.

For Alan Gaffney’s crest-fallen squad, only questions and some hard answers. As skipper Jim Williams pondered over his future in the game, he dispensed with the niceties.

“We got 10 points in front and the game was there to be won but you can’t miss first-up tackles against a side like Wasps.”

His Aussie compatriot Gaffney wasn’t in the mood for excuses either, though the late withdrawal of David Wallace and the loss of Ronan O’Gara offered him scope. “We have only ourselves to blame. We talked about discipline but we let them back into the game. Wasps play very good pressure rugby and I think Munster are still learning to play that way. Far too many guys are trying to master it. Wasps kept coming at us and we just didn’t get the basics right. Our defence was still a problem,” he said.

Soft tries either side of half time put England’s finest in a commanding position, but Munster’s ultimate downfall was all the harder to bear after an heroic second-half comeback put them a commanding 10 points to the good. The sin-binning of Donncha O’Callaghan and Rob Henderson in the final quarter was the signal for a late Wasps turbo-charge.

Little wonder Gatland was a little intoxicated on adrenalin as he mused over the scale of Wasps’ achievement: “I don’t feel anything for Munster. You take your chances and your opportunities in this competition.

“It’s easy for Munster to qualify for the Heineken Cup every year. For us, the Premiership is incredibly important because it’s really difficult to qualify. You take your opportunities and we took ours,” he said.

The visiting hero was a 20-stone Samoan who looks wide enough to fill an entire front row of a cinema, let alone a scrum.

“We keep tabs on him as much as we can,” said Gatland. “We monitor him so closely on the physical and mental side. He has been known to sneak off to McDonalds but he can do what he likes tonight.”

There wasn’t even the solace of an Irish side in the Parker Pen Cup final, with Connacht denied by Harlequins on aggregate. Michael Bradley’s side scored a 23-18 win, but went out 45-41 overall.