The perfect night to bring out the Bok

WE MIGHT as well have been on the high veldt.

Whenever Munster are trying to sell life in Cork, Limerick, or points in between, to future southern hemisphere recruitment targets, last night’s game should feature heavily in the recruiting DVD. The evening was balmy, the wind ruffled the hair gently and a dab of sunscreen wouldn’t have been out of the question, late September or no.

Supporters in red who trooped in with a view to casting an eye over Munster’s latest acquisition weren’t disappointed. Jean De Villiers, lately of the Republic of South Africa but latterly of the Limerick Soviet, duly took up his starting place in the centre, provoking a certain amount of anticipatory hand-rubbing in Musgrave Park, not to mention a round of applause when announced in the line-up.

It ended with a nasty little scare for the home supporters, mind – with time almost up, De Villiers began to limp noticeably, and the Munster medical staff immediately signalled that he was to come off. The home coach calmed things considerably at the final whistle: “He’s fine,” said Tony McGahan. “Just a few cramps. He’s fine.”

Early in the game, De Villiers – in appearance marginally smaller across the shoulders than Table Mountain, though a good deal quicker over the first 10 metres – was prominent in defence.

He may trail a reputation as king of the intercept try, but on the Dragons put-in he replaced Ronan O’Gara in the out-half position, sending out a clear signal to future opponents about their attacking prospects down the Munster number 10 channel. On 15 minutes, O’Gara almost made the switch of identity complete, in fact, picking off a James Arlidge pass a la De Villiers himself, only to be hauled down almost immediately.

The Dragons clearly didn’t roll into Musgrave Park to play the role of sacrificial lambs, however. The Welsh resistance was led, among others, by number eight Joe Bearman in the lineout. The powerful forward’s Native American-sounding handle incorporated a welcome melding of name, general appearance and physical appearance attribute that really should be adopted on a much wider basis (Ronan O’Kicking-Mule, for instance. Donncha O’High jumping Beast).

Forgive us. The mind was inclined to wander a little in a first half which wasn’t so much crying out for a score as sobbing aloud and looking for a handkerchief.

“A lot of us were struggling in the first half,” said Munster’s Tomas O’Leary afterwards.

“Including myself. I was blowing a bit.”

O’Leary, back after the horrific leg break that ruled him out of the Lions tour, was needed, as the Dragons’ general combativeness in the lineout and around the fringes didn’t do much for Munster’s attacking platform, though they bullied the visitors in the scrum all evening.

Further infield, De Villiers began to get to the pitch of the game and showed a twinkle of his class on 31 minutes, cruising past two tacklers to give Munster a bridgehead in opposition territory, even if they couldn’t press home their advantage.

It was 3-3 at the break, but when Munster turned the screw in the second half, turning that clear superiority in the scrum into tries notched up front, they killed the game, Nick Williams alone bagging three touchdowns on the way to a 27-3 victory.

As the game wore on, the newcomer became more involved – on 60 minutes De Villiers inhaled Richard Fussell as the Dragon tried to launch a midfield attack, and later on, with Munster on the Dragons line, the Welsh side hurriedly rushed men to the short side when the South African was loitering out there for a pass.

With six minutes to go the fairytale ending almost wrote itself, when De Villiers bounced his way towards the try-line, but he was held up.

“He was very solid,” said Tony McGahan after the game. “He didn’t get a lot of ball to play off throughout the game, but when he did he showed a touch of class.”

The classy touches weren’t limited to De Villiers. His fellow import (Fellow hemispherean? Fellow southerner?) Doug Howlett stamped the evening with one unforgettable image, searing through the midfield for a long-distance try.

The indigenous talent wasn’t forgotten either. Tomas O’Leary came off to a warm round of applause – “what a tremendous story that is,” said McGahan – and John Hayes got one of the cheers of the night. For warming up.

They’ll all be needed next week, when Munster face Leinster in Dublin.

“It’s always a big derby game for us,” said O’Leary. “I’m sure this year it’ll be no different.”

Next weekend in the RDS won’t be quite as balmy.

Count on it.