Why the bad blood still runs deep

NO ONE should worry that any of Munster’s Grand Slam heroes might not be ‘up for’ tomorrow’s Heineken Cup quarter-final with Ospreys at Thomond Park.

The sides’ recent histories assures there will be no lack of motivation from either team in Limerick. There have been bust-ups, dismissals, stray boots, citings and counter-citings, and disciplinary hearings. All this bad blood guarantees that both sides will be highly tuned to blast the opposition out of the tournament tomorrow.

A lot of this ill-feeling within the Munster camp has been generated not so much by the Ospreys’ players but by the words and actions of some of the club’s coaching staff.

Lyn Jones, Ospreys coach up until the end of last season, was never a fan of the men in red and wasn’t slow to divulge his opinions to the Welsh media. He has declared that Munster “are not God’s gift to rugby” and he described one of the province’s wins in Edinburgh as a game “where they bored the opposition into submission”.

Jones might have departed but his words won’t be easily forgotten. It was always felt in the Munster dressing room that his opinions were just a reflection of what was being said within the Ospreys squad.

The battle of words became a more physical struggle once the games kicked off. Munster always felt that the Ospreys didn’t show any respect and they had to be put in their place. Meanwhile the Welsh outfit always wanted to shatter Munster’s superiority complex.

Most of the matches were bruising and generally fair, but on occasion these encounters spilled into violence. We came off worst one evening in Neath and sat devastated in the cramped dressing room afterwards. Heads were down and nobody felt like talking. A young Jeremy Staunton had played full-back and had received an awful shoeing towards the end of the game that left stud-marks all across his face.

Then Declan Kidney spoke. “Look at the state of his face,” he said, pointing to Staunton. “I don’t mind if you get beaten on the score line, but don’t ever let yourselves be beaten up again.”

It was a valuable lesson, and from then on we wouldn’t take a backwards step when confronted.

ONE OF the most unsavoury matches in the series between the two sides was the Heineken Cup clash in October 2004. It was a volatile, ill-tempered affair with both sides getting involved in some nasty incidents. However nobody in the Munster dressing room expected the bizarre twist after the game. Munster cited Ospreys’ winger, Richard Mustoe for stamping and in response Ospreys cited Marcus Horan for punching and racial abuse. It was a completely unfounded allegation and it infuriated the Munster players and management. At the disciplinary hearings, Mustoe got 12 weeks for his foul play. Not only was Horan was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the disciplinary committee went on further to state that “the alleged remark had not been made”. It was a full vindication of the Munster squad’s innocence. However, the whole incident has never been forgotten or forgiven by any of the men in red who played that day.

Eleven Munster men were involved in the match day squad for Ireland’s recent Grand Slam decider against Wales. It would be excusable if these players were battle weary after a physically and emotionally draining championship. However after a weekend off, the Munster men came out firing against their local nemesis. Leinster were dispatched with clinical precision last Saturday. The Grand Slam heroes looked re-energised after their short break.

Those players who had been deprived of rugby during the Six Nations due to injury or exclusion from the Irish squad were chomping at the bit. Ian Dowling, Lifeimi Mafi, Doug Howlett and Alan Quinlan competed brilliantly and Keith Earls broke the game wide open with one stiff arm hand-off. Tony McGahan must be satisfied by his side’s preparation for tomorrow’s quarter-final. The internal preparations of the side are running as smoothly as possible.

There also is an external influence might add some extra spice to Munster motivation for the big game against the Ospreys. Prior to the Grand Slam decider against Wales, Warren Gatland amazed the assembled media when he announced how Welsh players dislike the Irish more than any other side in the tournament.

It was an incredible outburst and a foolish gaffe by the former Irish coach. He should have understood the Irish rugby mentality and realised that he practically wrote Declan Kidney’s motivational speech for Ireland’s biggest day since 1948. Since his Welsh squad is built around a core of Ospreys players, it is plausible that he based his opinion on the feelings of that particular group.

This animosity hasn’t been swept under the carpet since. Paul O’Connell later expressed annoyance about Gatland’s comments and said an Irish coach would never speak so insolently. He also made reference to the two key traits of both the Irish and Munster squads: honesty and integrity. Munster will have to display these characteristics against quality opposition tomorrow. They will also have to be ferocious at every physical encounter. And they can’t afford to take a backwards step.