No room for error now
In the end, both sides seemed happy enough with the outcome of a hard-fought Heineken Cup battle and now interest switches to Thomond Park on Saturday for the return game.
Home advantage will obviously count but if Munster give away as many penalties as they did yesterday, they will be in serious trouble.
Furthermore, they will need to be far more forceful in the contact areas, where the fired up Frenchmen yesterday held a distinct advantage.
It wasn’t that Munster played poorly. It was more a case that all too often, they failed to reach the required tempo against fired up opposition who, honestly, looked a different class, especially in the all-important early minutes of the second half. They played some serious rugby at that point and were magnificent right across the team.
Indeed were it not for some typically brave tackling reminiscent of the previous game between the sides in Clermont, they might well have run away with the game.
Clermont moved nine points ahead after 54 minutes and deservedly so, too, but Munster and Ronan O’Gara refused to give up. The out-half retained his 100% kicking record with a beauty from near halfway and a revitalised side might well have stolen it at the death when a Lifeimi Mafi pass drifted forward with a try chance beckoning. Not alone that, but in addition to Marcus Horan’s brilliantly taken try after 25 minutes, they might well have had another two before the break. However, nobody could question the merit of Clermont’s victory, their cause helped by the number of penalties awarded by English referee Wayne Barnes.
No friend of the French in last year’s World Cup, Mr Barnes was absolutely merciless as he punished Munster repeatedly at the breakdown, leading to a field day for Clermont’s inspired Australian out-half, Brock James. He kept the scoreboard ticking over with his cultured right boot, while his brilliantly taken try shortly after the interval had a decisive effect on the outcome. Having contributed all of his team’s 25 points, there was no contest for man of the match.
But Munster had their heroes, too. O’Gara might have been beaten by James for the Clermont try but otherwise he was excellent, contributing 14 points with a series of superb kicks from long range and difficult angles. Mafi tackled like a man possessed as always and tried every trick in the book to breach the French defence, very nearly succeeding on a few notable occasions.
Indeed, the Munster tackling was of a very high quality and in truth it had to be. In this respect, Tomas O’Leary was a tower of strength in everything he did, and up front David Wallace, Paul O’Connell and newcomer Niall Ronan, especially in the first half, were outstanding.
There were shades early on of last year’s clash of the sides as Munster hardly raised a gallop in the opening stages. Clermont dominated possession but the Munster defence stood firm, although the pressure did tell as penalties were conceded at the break down. Brock James struck for a couple of close range kicks but O’Gara replied in kind with two smashing efforts before adding the points to Horan’s try from the edge of touch.
James hit the target for the third time on the half hour but almost immediately only a desperate kick into touch by Clermont captain Aurelien Rougerie prevented a certain try for Paul O’Connell. From the resultant scrum, Doug Howlett was worked over in the right corner but the TMO ruled that he had come up just short.
O’Gara and James exchanged penalties before right on half time, the outstanding O’Gara made a brilliant line break in front of the posts, only to have his inside pass intended for Lifeimi Mafi go straight to Clermont scrum-half Pierre Mignoni. If that was a major blow at a crucial stage, far worse was to follow immediately after the interval as James kicked a long-range penalty and then sold O’Gara a beautiful dummy before sailing in for a try at the posts which he converted himself to put Clermont six points clear.
James stretched it to 25-16 and it certainly was developing into a potentially barren day for the champions. But as so often before, they dug deep and found the reserves to come again in the closing stages. O’Gara kicked a superb goal from near halfway and they very nearly stole it at the death. They mightn’t have deserved to do so but they are nevertheless in good shape for the rematch on Saturday afternoon.
Another big Thomond Park day looms large.
CLERMONT AUVERGNE: A Floch; A Rougerie [capt], B Baby, S Bai, J Malzieu; B James, P Mignoni; T Domingo, M Ledesma, D Zirakashvili, J Pierre, L Jacquet, J Cudmore, A Lapandry, J Bonnaire.
Replacements: E. Vermeulen for Cudmore (46); A. Audebert Lapandry (64); L. Emmanuelli for Domingo (72).
MUNSTER: K Earls; D Howlett, B Murphy, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O’Gara, T O’Leary; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell [capt], A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace.
Replacements: D. Ryan for Quinlan (53); D. Fogarty for Sheahan (62); T. Buckley for Horan (68); J. Coughlan for Ronan (73).
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England).
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