All Black magic one to remember for Freddie

BETTER than winning the Heineken Cup, better than playing for Italy, better than playing for the Barbarians and beating the world champions.

Nothing compares with the night the All Blacks came to the new Thomond Park.

This is Federico Pucciariello in full flow, with a mist in his eye to boot.

“It was an absolutely amazing experience, my best experience ever in rugby”, he insisted and in case any doubt still existed he repeated: “Ever. Nothing compares with it.

“There was an electricity there. It was absolutely magic. Everything was perfect, even the weather. Before the game, it had rained for 10 days but on the night there was no wind, it was dry, fresh, perfect for a game of rugby. It was the perfect game, the opening of the stadium, the people, the cheering like never before, you couldn’t ask for better opposition, the Haka, everything was perfect.”

In little more than six months time, Freddie will say goodbye to the countless friends he has made in Munster since he arrived here four years ago from Italy with whom he won nine caps and return to his native Rosario. He plans to set up a bio-fuel company of considerable magnitude and of which Alan Quinlan, Diego Dominguez, another Puma who played for Italy and the great French wing and now Sale Sharks director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre, are just three of a number of investors.

Nor does he dismiss the possibility of getting involved in Argentinian politics some time in the future. He really wants to help the less well off among the society there, pointing out that “you just can’t keep everything for yourself. Business for me is like a table with four legs but the four legs must be solid. If you have one leg shorter than the others, it’s all going down. If you are happy in your business, it would make a massive difference. But when you have someone unhappy, it would make for a massive difference on the other side as well so you have to think of them.”

For now, though, he focuses on the remaining seven months of his time with Munster, stressing that he “looks forward to every game because you never know when you get an injury that keeps you out for six months and that’s the end.”

His involvement continues at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli, tonight when Munster hope to maintain their dominance of the Magners League. After the heroic way in which he held his end up against the All Blacks and given his capacity for playing in any of the three front-row positions, Freddie, 33, will be an invaluable cog in the machine for the other crucial games that lie ahead. And yet, he keeps referencing that incredible evening at Thomond Park.

“At lunchtime, we met the old fellas, the heroes of 1978, one to 15, they gave us our jerseys”, he enthused. “Gerry McLoughlin handed me my jersey and that was amazing. We all had our lunch together, their front five with our front five and so on. I thought it was a lovely touch, it made a difference and helped us to believe in ourselves.

“And then the match. I didn’t want to be remembered here as a guy who didn’t put his body on the line. Munster have values that are very rare in the world and we showed them that night. Every time you pull on that red jersey, you represent your family, yourself and your club and we believe everything is possible. That was real David v Goliath … some of the best 28 players in the best rugby nation in the world against a kind of a second team of a club and we almost won.

“My belief was growing all the time, especially in the second half when after 10 or 15 minutes when you saw they couldn’t break your line and they made changes and they still couldn’t break our line. That was huge. Your body is pumping adrenalin. I could have run for a hundred minutes more. I could have gone ahead until I was lying there because I don’t throw in the towel. I just wanted to win the game and do my best and keep focused, focused, focused because it was very fast out there.

“One mistake at the end has cost us the game and I have to say that happened because they were pumping and pumping and trying and trying for 80 minutes and at the end, they broke in the window. But it was a magic night for everyone. Something very special happened and it’s something I never experienced before. I was very disappointed and I couldn’t speak for about an hour. I couldn’t believe how close we were to making history again.”

With that big, familiar laugh of his, Freddie bemoaned the fact that the loss meant “I won’t be coming back for a reunion every year” before adding: “You know something, I respect those guys even more now than before that game in different ways. That day for me, it was like in the war and somebody shows you how he would be ready to die for you. That night wasn’t a rugby game only, it was like there was no tomorrow and the way the guys put their bodies on the line was just amazing. Every tackle was an inspiration for the other 14.”

After all the hullabaloo in the immediate aftermath of the game, the fatigue set in and Freddie admits he was completely exhausted.

“I went home after the game. If we had won, maybe I’d have a drink although I very rarely take a beer. But we lost and the result for me counts more than the performance. We are very competitive and really believed we could beat them. People told us the only way to beat the All Blacks is to believe you can beat them.”