Flannery ‘bursting’ for action

FOUR months ago Jerry Flannery was in pole position to start for the Lions against South Africa, the best hooker in northern hemisphere rugby.

Tomorrow he is left almost pleading with Munster coach Tony McGahan for a start against Leinster in the Magners League. A chipped bone in his elbow during Lions pre-tour training meant the powerful Munster hooker never even got to reach South Africa.

Now, however, rehab complete, he’s fit again and raring for road, which leaves McGahan in a bind. Tomorrow’s encounter is a huge Magners League game against Leinster, Munster’s fiercest rivals, behind them only on scoring difference at the top of the table (Munster are second, Leinster third). Does he throw Flannery in at the deep end, or does he stick with Denis Fogarty, the man who has done so well in the season to date?

Flannery, himself, has no doubts about what should happen. “It’s up to Tony and Laurie (Fisher, forwards coach) really, but if I was picking the team I’d start myself!

“I just tried to focus last week on training well and then when I wasn’t selected for Munster (against Dragons) I switched my focus to having a good game for Shannon (he played 40 minutes of an AIL warm-up game). I’ll just train hard this week and if they want to start me they can start me, at least I’m available.”

More than available, in fact. “Yeah, I’m just bursting to go now.”

Apart altogether from the honour attached to wearing that renowned red jersey at any time – and no-one appreciates that honour more – Flannery has other good reasons for wanting to make the team this weekend.

The Heineken Cup is just another week away, Northampton at Franklin Gardens on October 10, while the autumn internationals are just around the corner, a certain team from the southern tip of Africa making their way to these shores.

You think the fiery Flannery wouldn’t fancy a November head-to head with Bismarck du Plessis, the equally fiery Springbok hooker?

A lot at stake against Leinster then, a lot more than just four points in the Magners League. And it has become very important.

In the early years of what was then the Celtic League, Munster’s focus was very much on Europe, very often to the detriment of their performances in what is really their bread-and-butter competition. Now, however, Europe having been twice conquered, the focus has widened, and last year Munster put in a massive effort across the board, won the Magners League with a game or two to spare. Question, though – did that effort distract from Europe?

Leinster too were in contention in the Magners League but focused on the Heineken Cup, sacrificed a game or two in the lead-up to the European semi-final against Munster at Croke Park, and, well, we all know the outcome of that.

Are Munster in danger of spreading themselves too thinly, taking the Magners League so seriously? Definitely not, reckons Flannery, even if Europe is still the Holy Grail: “You can’t ever afford to lose games in the Heineken Cup, so that brings a little bit more pressure. There is a real prestige with the Heineken Cup and we try to pull out a big performance there.

“But, whenever we have sat down at the start of the season for the last few years we have said that we need to get more consistency in our Magners League performances. Even when we won the Heineken Cup in 2008, we were still losing Magners League games that we should really have been performing in and getting results.

“We can’t keep trying to pull out massive Heineken Cup performances after losing to one of the lower placed Magners League teams. I know we were beaten in the semi-final last year but I felt that it was probably one of our most consistent seasons last year. It helped and there was a really good buzz all the way through the year, and it worked well for us.

“Just because we lost the semi-final you can’t think that we were better off before. Fellas came in to Magners League games when other guys were away – they performed well and won and that put a big onus on other guys when they came back. And I think that’s why the squad is so competitive this year, because so many guys got a chance in the Magners League and it went well for us.

If you are realistic and look back on last year, it’s not like we struggled in the Heineken Cup coming up to the semi-final. We played well and had a good Heineken Cup campaign. We lost one game, and you can’t just say that we have to drop off our intensity in the Magners League. The quality of players that we have in the squad right now should mean that we are able to be competitive right the way though.

“Fellas are coming in getting their games and that should bring even bigger Heineken Cup performances. If we had lost to a team from outside Ireland, then it might not have impacted so much but it was such a huge loss and it’s something you have to live with for the rest of your life, that you have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

“You don’t start to panic. Leinster were the better team on the day, they showed up a lot of things that we need to improve on, and they were probably the first team last year that really stopped us. They had done their homework on us really well. We can’t lose faith in what we are doing. We need to keep doing what we’re doing and get a little better at it. Last year I was very confident that if we could win a Magners League then we could win a Heineken Cup.

“I didn’t think at any stage that it was too much for us. The squad is even better this year – we’re three from four now, and if we can keep that going.”