Coughlan relishes the big game buzz

ON THE way out of Thomond Park on Saturday evening,through the labyrinth of corridors, I met Dougie Howlett hobbling along on crutches – “God Doug,” says I (not that I was bestowing divinity on him, you understand, well and all as his two-try effort may have merited it), “that doesn’t look good!”

“Ah,” he replied, “No need to worry, it should be alright.”

In what had been one of his finest matches since coming to Munster, Howlett had injured his ankle when scoring his second try in the 76th minute, the insurance score for Munster, and was replaced by Billy Holland even before Ronan O’Gara had kicked the sideline conversion.