Horgan still a Munster doubt
Horgan was unable to train with the rest of the squad at the University of Limerick yesterday, with coach Declan Kidney stressing the experienced winger would have to take a full part in tomorrow’s session in Cork if he was to come into consideration.
However, with John Kelly showing no ill effects of the hamstring strain that kept him out of Sunday’s game and centre Barry Murphy also coming through without any reaction to his bruised shoulder, Kidney has more three-quarter options available.
It now remains to be seen whether Horgan will regain his place even if he proves his fitness, and much the same applies to Kelly, given how well Tomas O’Leary performed on the right wing after being pressed into service on Sunday at the last minute.
“I thought he was exceptional and did a great job for us,” said the coach.
“Shaun Payne and Ian Dowling also covered that area extremely well and all three did very well as a unit.”
Indications are the pitch at Thomond Park will hardly be a whole lot better than the Arms Park, and both coach and captain regard this as unfortunate.
“We would much prefer a dry pitch,” insisted skipper Paul O’Connell.
“Look at the way we played in the semi-final at Lansdowne Road last year and at the Millennium Stadium with the roof closed.”
Kidney elaborated: “I’m not sure there are too many sides in the professional era that want a wet day because it nullifies a lot of what you’re training for. We don’t mind what the conditions are as long as we win and we must adapt to whatever we find.”
Munster are never averse to the idea of playing up the opposition no matter what the form book might suggest, but Kidney made a fair point that Cardiff were very much in last Sunday’s game within touching distance of the final whistle.
He dismissed criticism of the Blues strategy, arguing: “If you look at the game after 65 minutes, their strategy was absolutely correct. It was a one-point game at that stage and they were putting us under a lot of pressure. Alan Quinlan took one good ball and Tomas O’Leary another in and around that time. They were big catches and those kinds of things tend to turn matches. Another ball hopped between a couple of guys and Denis Leamy managed to clean it up. Otherwise, they could have been in under the posts.
“They were giving us a torrid time up front and their forwards were on the front foot. And you imagine with the quality of the backs that they have, if the day is any better, they will bring them more into play.”
The one area where most observers believed Munster would enjoy a decisive edge was the line-out, with the O’Connell/Donncha O’Callaghan axis considered light years ahead of Cardiff’s James Goode and Deiniol Jones. In fact, the Welsh pair held their own and understandably delighted their coach Dai Young.
Typically, O’Connell wasn’t for downplaying how well they had performed.
“They were using a five-plus-one a lot of the time, which we struggled to get near,” he agreed.
“They had a lot of good variations. Defensively, they were very good and that will be a big part of the game this weekend.
“Every team attacks your line-out whether you’re playing at home or away, but some of the balls we lost were our own fault. Considering the way we defended the maul, you might have thought they’d have tried it a bit more. We were disappointed with that part of our game.”
O’Connell attributed Munster’s ability to squeeze out wins on hard days to experience and in Ronan O’Gara an excellent kicker in the zone at present.
“There are lots of guys on the pitch making the right decision. And when new guys come in, you want them to make an impact and not tread water, and I think that’s what happened.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
