Another Munster miracle

SIX years ago Munster beat a hasty retreat from the Stade Aime Giral, battered, bruised and all but eliminated from the Heineken Cup.

A week later they produced their miracle match against the might of Gloucester at Thomond Park. We all know what happened after that.

On this occasion the miracle happened before our eyes in a stadium where away wins are as rare snow showers in the Sahara. Secretly Munster craved a bonus point of any kind, even one in defeat, prior to kick-off. To achieve that by scoring a fourth try invictory at the death speaks volumes for this team.

This was Munster’s finest display on French soil since that memorable day in 2000 when Toulouse were defeated in Bordeaux in that famous semi-final and puts them in pole position in Pool One, two points ahead of Northampton.

To be competitive in a place like this you must first master the culture and the surroundings – then you engage the opposition. Munster conquered both in an arena that makes Thomond Park look like a children’s playground. With the vultures beginning to circle over the carcass of this team, once again the character of the players was called into question. As always, they answered with a statement of intent from a forward pack dominant throughout.

Right from the outset they hit the opposition at source, the maul. Over the years, Perpignan have scattered all before them using their maul as the weapon of mass destruction. Munster turned that trend on its head with a perfectly executed line-out maul of their own after 13 minutes that propelled the hosts back 15 metres. Munster could only be stopped by the concession of a penalty which Ronan O’Gara punished. It was a clear declaration of intent and convinced the Munster pack to take the much vaunted Perpignan eight on at source.

It helped that the line-out was so productive with Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan outstanding while Denis Fogarty enjoyed his finest day in a Munster jersey. The scrum, apart from the swift concession of two penalties prior to the break was rock solid with John Hayes and Wian du Preez anchoring a solid unit.

This game was won, however, because Munster flooded the breakdown with bodies. In this respect the back row were immense with Denis Leamy and David Wallace getting through an amount of work and Alan Quinlan creating a series of crucial turnovers, several in their defensive zone.

The net result of this was a one point lead for Munster at the break and feeling that the French champions were there for the taking. That view was reinforced when Tony McGahan’s side dominated the key third quarter, scoring 13 unanswered points despite losing O’Gara to the sin bin.

In that period, there was also another officiating cop out to rival the Schalk Burger controversy in the second Lions test. Jerome Schuster saw yellow instead of red for a head butt on Leamy. To Munster’s credit they refused to be intimidated and held their discipline.

Munster’s dominance in that period was inspired by a magnificent break by Tomás O’Leary which pinned Perpignan back in their 22 and ultimately produced a try for Denis Hurley. The fact that they also had a player of Paul Warwick’s quality to slot seamlessly into O’Gara’s vacant out half role was invaluable, while his touch line conversion of Hurley’s try was a sublime piece of kicking. Full credit too to the Munster management for utilising the bench early and to good effect. The introduction of Jean de Villiers on the hour was inspired and the South African brought a physical option into the midfield that has been absent since his fellow Springbok Trevor Halstead returned to Durban.

From a delicate offload from O’Gara, de Villiers had only one thing on his mind and that was the try line. The manner of that score killed any lingering hope Perpignan held. It also triggered a growing belief in his own team.

This was the bravest performance that I have ever seen from Munster in France. They were fighting for much more than just a win, perhaps even their survival.

As expected, Leinster cruised to another crucial bonus point victory over the Scarlets without breaking sweat. They even survived the shock of seeing Rob Kearney drop two consecutive garryowens for the first time in his professional career before registering seven tries against a clearly demoralised opposition.

With their close rivals London Irish also registering a bonus point win over Brive for the second week running, this pool remains on track for a final day shoot-out in Reading at the end of January.

Given that Leinster registered 11 tries and 77 points against the Scarlets over the last two weekends, London Irish must be kicking themselves for somehow faltering against the same opposition on their home patch.

As it stands you have to fancy Leinster to progress as they are playing some scintillating rugby and scoring tries for fun.

With a solid platform established up front from a dominant scrum where once again Cian Healy was very impressive, the Leinster back line carved open a naive and porous defence with ease as Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Isa Nacewa, Shane Horgan and Kearney looked different class with ball in hand.

Eoin Reddan is recapturing his Wasps form of two seasons ago as his confidence and understanding of those around him grows with every game.

With many of the Leinster squad reuniting with their Munster colleagues on Wednesday for Donncha O’Callaghan’s wedding to Brian O’Driscoll’s cousin Jennifer Harte, the possibility of a repeat of another encounter in the knock-out stages next April should create even more excitement.