O’Connell wary of danger posed by ‘motivated’ Welsh
It came as something of a surprise, then, to see the man himself confined to the sidelines in UL yesterday as the Munster squad went through its high-tempo paces in the lead-up to this weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against the Ospreys in Thomond Park. In anxious tone, supporters watching the training whispered up and down the sideline — what’s wrong with O’Connell? It’s the hip, lads, a flesh-and-bone hip, so the man is indeed mortal. “It’s not too bad,” he explained afterwards. “Just a bang I got in the game (win over Leinster) last Saturday. I had hoped to train today but felt a bit sore last evening — hopefully it’s nothing to worry about.”
There will be a few people offering an ‘Amen’ to that little prayer in the next couple of days, because the challenge presented by this Ospreys side is multi-pronged.
A Lions-calibre back division that has Shane Byrne, Irish Grand Slam hero Tommy Bowe and Shane Williams in the back three, a forward pack that includes several of those who gave the Irish scrum such a hard time in the Grand Slam win in Cardiff — take them on without O’Connell? Hardly bears thinking about.
This Ospreys outfit comes to Munster with so much motivation. There’s that recent last-minute loss to Ireland, a loss in which so many of them were involved, there was the heavy loss (17-0) also to Gloucester in the EDF cup semi-final; there’s the fact that despite home and away wins over Ulster in the Magners League — the same Ulster that defeated Munster on the double — they are being practically written off for this one by the bookies, and of course there’s the additional individual carrot for so many of the Ospreys of a possible place on the Lions squad that will be picked later this month.
O’Connell is only too aware of the threat posed by this weekend’s visitors.
“I’ll reckon they’ll be unbelievably motivated. They have class all over the pitch, they’re the kind of team that can dominate you all the game and win, or be under the cosh all game but with classy guys like Shane Williams or Tommy Bowe they can pull out a try and beat you.
“They have a lot of Grand Slam, Magners League and EDF winners on their team, they’re a team of winners. Winning in Ulster (Magners League last weekend) shows the potential they have.”
By contrast, where so many of the Ospreys have those two big recent losses as a spur, most of the Munster starting XV were on the Ireland Grand Slam-winning team, while the rest of the panel enjoyed a really productive period in the Magners League without the internationals, claiming 14 points from a possible 15 in their three ties. Shouldn’t be a problem, says O’Connell. “We used to need a loss to play well the next day, but the experience we’ve had in the last few years has made us become more consistent. We have a core group of experienced players, there’s great competition for places and the new coaching staff has helped that. We don’t need a huge cause anymore for us to play well.”
The 2006/07 season was the stimulus for this new attitude. Having won the Heineken Cup in 2006, Munster struggled through the group the following season and were then knocked out in the quarter-final by Llanelli. A harsh lesson well learned by O’Connell and his team-mates. “I don’t think we took a breather, we just took a little while to find ourselves. We’ve moved on in terms of motivation, but we’ve also gone back a little, taking each game as it comes. That was one of the secrets of Ireland’s success and we’ve lived that here in Munster. We don’t look beyond any game — make a big game of every game. And we’ll treat this week the same.
“We’ve been winning games, that’s the most enjoyable part of rugby. That’s when morale is at its highest, when you bounce into training — when you’re winning. That’s why we play. It’s a horrible job on a Monday morning the day after you lose, but the opposite when you win.”
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