Lion King feeling the pain of loss

IT MIGHT be pertinent now to return to this corresponding fixture three years ago, to the post-match press conference to be exact, held in a tent at the back of the former West Stand in Lansdowne Road.

There, one of the Munster players reminded us that a day would come, perhaps, when they’d could be facing the media as a side crushed by Leinster.

Three years on, it came to pass. Leinster, not just miffed by the lady-boy jibes attached to them over the years, channelled all the hurt from the 2006 semi-final defeat and all others to their greatest rivals down through the years into a performance of raw courage, unremitting energy and, above all else, pure desire.

In a neat reversal of roles, Leinster resembled the Munster of three years ago: As well as out-Munstering Munster, they showed that in-your-face aggression, that confrontational edge perfected by all the great sides who have succeeded at this level.

Michael Cheika’s side knew that if they were to win this one, they’d need to borrow facets from the Munster playbook: bully the opposition, don’t take a backward step, win the collisions and the forward battle and you’ll win the war.

Munster captain Paul O’Connell sat in that tent three years ago, reminding us that Leinster would bank that 30-6 defeat and one day unleash hell on the Munster men. He conceded what every one saw for themselves: Munster beaten hands down in every area of the field.

“We said inside (the dressing room) they were the better team in nearly every facet of play: they tackled very well – low and hard – they carried very well, they were excellent at the breakdown and we were probably second in every area. They scored two good tries out wide and then an intercept from Brian (O’Driscoll). We were probably dominated in every department.”

This defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for the 2009 British and Irish Lions captain. “It’s unbelievably hard to take. These are the games that will be remembered for a long time, especially this game in Croke Park. Unfortunately we have not just lost – we have been very well beaten. It’s going to be tough to take, but that’s sport.”

Munster pride themselves on doing the simple things right, but clearly rattled by Leinster’s kamikaze tackling, the champions failed to even do that. They lost their composure, their shape, their ability even to eke out a result when playing poorly.

“Even some of the simple things we tried today did not come off,” added O’Connell. “We pride ourselves on doing the simple things and we didn’t do the simple things well today. For the few games we lost this year we know how bad we can be when we don’t do the simple things. We didn’t do that today.”

The post-mortem into Munster’s meltdown at GAA headquarters will continue for a while yet, but O’Connell rejected suggestions of complacency in their performance.

“No, I don’t think that was there at all. I don’t think we played well. I think someone has to lose. The team that loses gets labelled the team that wanted it less. As I said, we did not do the simple things and that was one of the main things that contributed to our downfall.

“As well, I think they were massively up for it, no doubt about it, but I didn’t feel any hint of it (complacency) in our camp. It’s something I would have been very wary of, we all would have been very wary of amongst ourselves and I didn’t feel any hint of it during the week.”

He added: “We didn’t expect to play that badly. The boys are gutted in the changing room, there hasn’t been a lot said yet. It’s going to be a tough couple of weeks now. But that’s sport.

“Best of luck to them, they were excellent – they were the better team in practically every facet of play. They were outstanding – we have to hold our hands up, no excuses.”

Asked would they have changed anything in build up, O’Connell said: “Absolutely not – I thought preparation was good. We felt sharp. We felt we had the right mix of positivity and the right mix of knowledge of when we’re bad and how bad we can be at times. And that’s something we need to keep in the back of our minds all the time – to keep us playing simple and direct rugby.

“We didn’t do the simple things well, we didn’t do the direct things well, a lot of that had to do with Leinster stopping us doing it.”