Making a case for the defence
Rarely if ever have Munster put up such a blanket resistance against a side good enough to lead the English Premiership all season long and in a game in which they had a regular supply of quality possession. There were times when it seemed inevitable that Gloucester would make the breakthrough but there always seemed to be a Munster man on hand to save the day. As inspirational skipper Paul O’Connell insisted, this was “a team effort from one to 15”.
True, there were some mighty hits at crucial stages from the likes of Alan Quinlan, Denis Leamy and O’Connell himself, but it was the manner in which they operated as a unit that proved Gloucester’s downfall. The point was not lost on head coach Declan Kidney.
“Fair dues to Tony McGahan, he had them primed,” Kidney said. “The defensive effort was one of the stand-out features of our performance. Going into the game, we knew we had to do it in defence and that’s probably why we picked the team the way we did. There are different ways of defending and we had to defend in that particular fashion today.
“Obviously, we then had to go after our scores as well and so there’s a huge amount of credit due to everybody involved that we managed to hold Gloucester to three points on their home patch.”
He added: “We probably rode our luck in the first half in that a number of Gloucester penalties went wide. Had they got those points at that stage, it might have been a different game because we would have been chasing it a little bit more whereas we defended for long patches and took our scores when they came our way. Is that down to experience? Is that down to the match on the day? It is difficult to say.”
It took great courage on Kidney’s part to pick Tomás O’Leary ahead of Peter Stringer. Given his long association with Stringer, he would have done so with a heavy heart and you fully believe him when he admitted it’s never a easy thing to have to tell fellas on a Monday or Tuesday that they’re not playing.”
And he gave a typical Kidney reply when it was suggested that it must have been a massive step for him to drop Stringer.
“Maybe we would have won by more if I had picked him. Who’s to say? Just because we won today doesn’t mean the selections were right. We have to make calls at certain stages and it’s never easy to make them. We don’t enjoy them and just because we won a game, I wouldn’t be jumping on the pig’s back and saying they were the right calls.
“I’m obviously delighted for the lads who played. It didn’t surprise me. We don’t make it an easy team to get on. The younger fellas can get a little frustrated but once they’re good enough, they’ll get their go. They just need to attain a certain standard and I think they showed that today. Denis Hurley did some things very well but he’s been doing that for us in the A matches and the Magners League.
“Last year when he didn’t get an outing, we told him not to get frustrated. He was coming along fine. The fact that the Munster clubs do so well gives our players the chance to develop a winning habit. There are some great coaches in the clubs that these players have been learning from and we shouldn’t underestimate the value of that to this team. When I asked him during the week how he was finding things, he replied ‘I’m alright but not playing as well as I could do.’ I think that’s a measure of him.”
Incredibly, it was only 10 minutes from kick-off when Marcus Horan knew his back spasm wasn’t going to allow him to take his place in the Munster front-row. This caused a flurry of activity with Tony Buckley, normally a tight head prop, being pressed into service at loose head and an SOS going out to Freddie Pucciariello to tog out and get ready to sit on the bench.
“It was twenty past five when we knew Marcus wouldn’t make it,” Kidney explained. “Freddie was told to go out to the bus and get your boots. You’re in. We travelled with a few extra guys, one front-row, Donncha Ryan came over and Shaun (Payne) had his boots. We got Freddie into his gear, I saw him in his socks as the guys were going out on the pitch, we got the boots on and he did a warm-up. He did powerfully in the circumstances and so did Tony Buckley.”
It wasn’t just in picking the likes of Hurley and O’Leary that Kidney and company got it spot on. When it became apparent that Buckley was in serious trouble at the set piece in his unaccustomed position, they rushed Pucciariello into the action for a crucial scrum on the Munster line. Another piece of quick, decisive action.
“Tony would be the first to admit he’s still learning his trade but he has really stepped up to the plate,” said Kidney. “Freddie has a huge amount of experience. He came in and himself and the other lads put in a huge defensive effort.”
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