Patience a virtue as Reds sail through the storm

IT MAY have taken almost 24 hours longer than originally intended but Munster negotiated a safe passage to a home quarter final of this season’s Heineken Cup by virtue of their comprehensive 26-point victory at the Stade De Sapiac.

While the rescheduling of their final pool game severely inconvenienced the players and management not to mention the sizeable support that travelled, at least it painted a clearer picture of what was required to seize that all-important home advantage. Ospreys’ defeat of Leicester at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday meant a win of any kind would satisfy that requirement. Parking the necessity of a four-try winning bonus point was a big psychological advantage. In the end even that was achieved with a very composed and professional second-half performance which yielded four tries to add to Tomas O’Leary’s sole first-half five-pointer.

After the excellence of last week’s display against the Sale Sharks, it was inevitable that Munster would struggle to reach those heights. The extra day spent hanging around a windswept Montauban was hardly conducive to the notion of hitting the ground running, but in the end made little impact. The sight of Paul O’Connell, John Hayes and Denis Leamy receiving a standing ovation as they had the luxury of exiting with 12 minutes left on the clock told its own story.