Reihana rues missed opportunity

AT home in New Zealand they were contemporaries, made their All-Black debuts together in 2000, played together against France and Italy that year.

But just before 6pm on Saturday, in one of the Heineken Cup quarter-final’s defining moments, they were on opposite sides, Doug Howlett on the right wing for Munster facing Bruce Reihana, on the left wing for Northampton.

Having just received the ball from Ronan O’Gara after the out-half had made a split-second decision to go blindside rather than open, Doug now had ball in hand and a try on his mind, but Reihana was in a good position, with help on his outside if needed. A 180-degree twist from Howlett, however, a powerful surge as he now headed for the line in an almost backward semi-seated position, and – cruel as it may seem to say so – there it was, the reason in an instant why Howlett claimed 63 All-Black caps and Reihana just two.

That try also established Munster’s dominance over Northampton, put them into a 13-6 lead while playing into a strong wind, and though they would trail 16-13 at the break, a further two tries in the second half saw the home team safely home. Afterwards, Bruce had a slightly sheepish look about him.

“It was always going to be a big step-up, especially playing a Heineken Cup quarter-final. Munster have proven themselves year-in/year-out for a long, long time now, they showed how clinical you need to be in these sort of games. Ronan O’Gara controlled the game, we didn’t handle it very well, but we’ll learn from that. It takes errors, mistakes, before you get better.”

So this was a different Munster (to January)? “Yeah, but either way, the pool or today, they were going to be tough. Small opportunities, you must take them – Munster did that, took all their chances. We created opportunities but slipped up, were snuffed out close to the line and if you do that, you lose.”

We know what you mean, Bruce – fast-forward to the 28th minute of the second half, Northampton only seven points behind but a try-scoring opportunity in almost the exact spot from which Howlett had beaten Reihana – Juandre Kruger, giant Northampton second-row, was one-on-one with Paul Warwick only a few yards from the line, had built up quite a head of steam, but was tackled, into touch. Minutes later David Wallace makes a brilliant strip from Irish-colleague-but-Northampton foe Neil Best on the Munster 22, ball cleared, opportunity snuffed.

“Games like this are about taking those sort of chances,” said Reihana, “that’s what Munster did, they took their opportunities, and we didn’t. We need to learn from that, keep control of the ball, especially close to the line, convert your opportunities. We talked all week about how ferocious it was going to be, the collisions, the fantastic support Munster have here. We tried to use that to help ourselves but it didn’t show, obviously, in the first 10 or 15 minutes. Once we got back on track, started going through the phases, keeping possession, we showed what sort of side we can be. We’ve just got to do it for 80 minutes. We’re hurting now, but 24 to 48 hours, it will all be over, our focus will be straight back on the (Premiership) league. There’s a lot of belief in this squad, we’ll turn this around.”