Another Thomond miracle recovery to savour

MIRACLE matches should now carry a Munster trademark.

Watching the clock tick down and the province trailing in a must-win Heineken Cup tie had most supporters peering through their fingers in an attempt to stave off the agony.

But this team doesn’t do nerves or panic. Quite the opposite. To them, every second is a step closer to an opening, an opposition error and a game-turning moment.

Thomond Park witnessed another from the “how to deal with a crisis” catalogue on Saturday night and Munster’s back row forward David Wallace, for one, wasn’t surprised by the outcome.

“When you’ve been through scary matches like we have over the years, you learn never to give up,” said Wallace. “Self belief is a strength of the team; we spent most of the second half defending but experience would have told us that we would get our chance to attack at some point.

“The focus was simply to get some decent ball to attack with, and when we got that possession, we did exactly that.

“We weren’t thinking of forcing them to concede a penalty or for us to kick a drop goal, it was about handling the situation in front of us. With the ball in hand and with quick ruck ball, we felt there just had to be space somewhere because they were down to 14 men.

“They covered well but we just about found the space and, thankfully, Marcus got in at the corner.”

Munster struck again from the restart with a wonderful solo effort from Niall Ronan.

“It was a great piece of football, Niall really showed his Gaelic football skills. He’s an unbelievable athlete, a brilliant footballer,” said Wallace. “That chip and chase really was the right thing (to do). He saw the space and the fact there was no defender to cover. I was ahead of him when he kicked the ball and I was about 20 metres behind when he got the touch; it tells a lot about his pace.”

Wallace noted his own first half try came from an assist from Alan Quinlan and he also praised Tomas O’Leary and Peter Stringer.

“That tackle by Tomas on their centre was a match-saving block in all probability. Then, when Strings came on, we got a bit of go forward ball and there’s nobody much better than him to take advantage of that. He was all over them to get quality quick ruck ball and he had them chasing left and right before they ran out of numbers and we scored. It’s great to have two players of that quality to bring different skills to a match.”

Skipper Paul O’Connell admitted “fear of a lonely rugby season” helped power the Heineken Cup champions to a sensational victory.

O’Connell revealed: “There would have been fear of having to face into a very lonely rest of the season. I don’t think we were really dwelling on it during the game, but I suppose that would have been our reaction had we lost.”

O’Connell was also at the centre of the first half’s most controversial moment when, after a bout of fisticuffs with Jamie Cudmore, the Clermont lock was sent off while O’Connell was sin-binned. O’Connell said he shook hands with Cudmore after the game.

“I saw him (Cudmore) going for Jerry (Flannery) on the ground, so I went to grab him, and pull him off Jerry. I think he had three punches in on me before I knew it. That’s it, but we’ve kissed and made up already.

“These things happen. They play with a lot of heart and passion. I’ve a lot of respect for them, and the way they played and I’m looking forward to their performance against Sale.”