‘Miracle Match’ quartet on a mission

DONNCHA O’Callaghan is one of four players in Ireland’s team to play Argentina at the Parc des Princes on Sunday to have fronted up in the past to a similar, seemingly impossible situation.

Nobody gave Munster a hope at Thomond Park in February 2002 when they needed to beat Gloucester to stay in the Heineken Cup by scoring four tries and by a margin of 27 points. The likelihood that the first part of the equation could be realised was thought to be so remote that few looked at the second requirement.

However, in winning 33-6 and, scoring four tries, they famously made it through to the knock-out stages and eventually to a controversial final defeat by Leicester Tigers in Cardiff.