Three to savour: magic nights when Thomond Park rocked
THIS game has come to rival the 1978 defeat of the All Blacks in the pantheon of legendary Munster performances.
Never was the motto: “To the Brave and Faithful, Nothing is Impossible” more suited. After all, needing to score four tries and win by at least 27 points against a team of Gloucester’s quality seemed too great an ask, even for a side of Munster’s fortitude and self belief.
The usual highly supportive crowd turned up, chiefly because they wanted to see their team’s unbeaten record at Thomond Park remain intact.
There was still a lot to play for, even if achieving the required result was deemed out of the question.
While the players knew they needed to score four tries, few were aware that they needed to win by 27 points to make the quarter-finals.
John Kelly set the ball rolling with the first try after a deft Peter Stringer blindside break. Another followed on the stroke of half time when Mossie Lawlor dotted down a lovely little grubber kick by Jason Holland and Munster led 16-6 at the interval.
Ronan O’Gara kept knocking over the goal kicks before Holland found Mick O’Driscoll unmarked on the right wing and he touched down for try number three. It might have gone pear-shaped had Gloucester out-half Lucien Mercier not taken a quick penalty instead of accepting the three points in front of the Munster posts. Shortly afterwards Holland put Kelly over for his second try. O’Gara — who claimed afterwards that he was unaware of the significance of the kick — landed the conversion.
Four tries, a winning margin of 27. Game, set and match to Munster.
MUNSTER: J. Staunton; J. Kelly, M. Mullins, J. Holland, M. Lawlor; R. O’Gara, P. Stringer; M. Horan, F. Sheahan, J. Hayes, M. O’Driscoll, D. O’Callaghan, J. Williams capt, A. Quinlan, A. Foley.
Scorers: Kelly 2 tries, Lawlor, O’Driscoll try each; O’Gara 3 pens, 2 cons.
GLOUCESTER: H. Paul; J. Simpson-Daniel, T. Fanalau, R. Todd, T. Delport; L. Mercier, A. Gomarsall; R. Roncerro, O. Azam, P. Vickery (C), R. Fidler, M. Cornwell, J. Boier, P. Buxton, J. Paramore.
Replacements: A. Hazell for Buxton 51; T. Beam for Paul 61; C. Collins for Paramore 65; A. Eustace for Fidler 75.
Scorer: Mercier 2 pens.
THIS was yet another of those must-win bonus point affairs against the pride of England, a side who had walloped them by double scores the previous October. They were level 3-3 early in the game when Ronan O’Gara lofted a restart in the direction of the Sharks talisman Sebastien Chabal. The bearded Frenchman made a clean catch but as he did so he was mercilessly but legitimately hit by a rampant Paul O’Connell.
Half the Munster pack rowed in behind and “Sea Bass“, too proud to go to ground, was driven back 20 metres.
It was a seminal moment: the fanatical crowd bayed their appreciation and Munster had won a huge psychological battle. Anthony Foley got the touch down after a rolling maul and then it was the turn of “rookies” Ian Dowling and Barry Murphy to stamp their authority on the proceedings.
Donncha O’Callaghan stole a Sale line-out and the ball was swung wide through the hands of O’Gara, Trevor Halstead, Murphy and Shaun Payne before Kilkenny man Dowling dived over in the corner. Then came Murphy’s magic moment as a half charged down kick by O’Gara spun into his hands just inside the Sale half.
He set off on a weaving, dodging run that completely outfoxed no less than Jason Robinson, among others, and the cheer as the Bohemian dived over must have been heard for miles around.
That put Munster 24-9 in front but even that wasn’t enough. One more try was required and it finally came a minute into stoppage time as David Wallace powered his way over from close range. It was the only score of that half and was absolutely priceless.
“From time to time, you’re told you can’t do certain things and it’s a great feeling when you go and do it,” enthused skipper Antony Foley. “The atmosphere inspires us all. It’s for our families and friends as much as ourselves, the people in our towns. No player wants to let them down.”
S. Payne; J. Kelly, B. Murphy, T. Halstead, I. Dowling; R. O’Gara, P. Stringer; M. Horan, J. Flannery, J. Hayes, P. O’Connell, D. Wallace, D. Leamy, A. Foley (C).
M. Lawlor for Payne, T. O’Leary for Stringer, F. Pucciariello for Horan, D. Fogarty for Flannery, M. O’Driscoll for O’Connell, S. Keogh for Foley, all 83.
Foley, Dowling, Murphy, Wallace try each; O’Gara pen, 4 cons.
J. Robinson capt; M. Cueto, M. Taylor, E. Seveali, D. Larrachea; C. Hodgson, S. Martens; A. Sheridan, S. Bruno, B. Stewart, I. Fernandez Lobbe, C. Jones, J. White, M. Lund, S. Chabal.
E. Taione for Seveali 27, R. Wiggleworth for Martens 49; A. Titterell for Bruno, C. Mayor Jones, both 69.
C. Hodgson 3 pens.
IT is unlikely that there have ever been two such thrilling matches involving teams in the same pool in the history of the Heineken Cup.
Munster travelled to Vicarage Road in Watford for their first meeting with Saracens in the autumn of 1999 and eked out a 35-34 win in a truly remarkable game. It was inconceivable that when they met in the return leg a couple of months later that there could be anything to match that epic. But that’s just what happened.
The visitors included Francois Pienaar, who had captained South Africa to World Cup glory in 1995; French out-half Thierry Lacroix; English forwards of the calibre of Richard Hill and Danny Grewcock, two other World Cup winners; Julian White and Scotland’s Stuart Murray along with Ireland’s Paul Wallace.
It would take a special edition of this newspaper to outline in any detail how the match unfolded. Suffice to say that a magnificent Mark Mapletoft try in the last minute of normal time, converted by Lacroix, put Saracens six points ahead.
The 18,000 plus crowd thought it was curtains for their side but a couple of penalties forced a close range line-out, John Langford took Keith Wood’s throw, the rest joined in, a mass of bodies piled over the line and Wood emerged with the ball.
The hush that fell over Thomond Park was quite deafening. Ronan O’Gara, his head bloodied and bandaged, still had to land the conversion. He did so, via the upright, the place went mad and Mick Galwey gasped: “He had some balls. But there was still time to play. They got the ball to Lacroix within drop goal range but Langford blocked the kick. The scenes at the end were amazing. I’ve never had my back slapped so much.”
D. Crotty; J. Kelly, M. Mullins, J. Holland, A. Horgan; R. O’Gara, P. Stringer; P. Clohessy, K. Wood, J. Hayes, M. Galwey (C), J. Langford, A. Quinlan, D. Wallace, A. Foley.
: Galwey, Holland, Wood tries; O’Gara 4 pens, 2 cons.
M. Mapletoft; R. Constable, J. Thomson, K. Sorrell, D. O’Mahony; T. Lacroix, N. Walshe; D. Flatman, G. Chuter, J. White, S.Murray, D. Grewcock, R. Hill, F. Pienaar (C), T. Diprose.
B. Johnston for Thomson 21; P. Wallace for White 60.
Mapletoft 2 tries; O’Mahony try; Lacroix 3 pens, 3 cons.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
