O’Gara: this is our competition

MISJUDGE Munster at your peril, especially in the Heineken Cup – that’s the message from captain Ronan O’Gara.

“It’s a different competition,” said O’Gara. “I think that’s the key point. This is our competition, one that we thrive in and that we love, and I think if you look at the record for the last 10, 11, 12 years Munster have consistently produced. That is a fact and is not up for dispute. After this we are in another semi-final and we’re knocking on the door. I don’t know if we’re good enough to win it, but at least we are progressing and that is what pleases me so much, the consistency of performances from year to year. Rather than going missing for two or three years we are knocking on the door every year and as a pro that is all you can ask of yourself, to keep doing that.

“This was good because Paulie (O’Connell) was a big loss. He is an inspirational leader and you’d be a small bit worried about the pack. But you could see in fellas’ eyes that the blood was up. Sport is ruthless, it doesn’t wait for anybody and Paul is aware of that; he is going to be a massive addition when he comes back.”

It was a superb performance from Munster, from all of Munster – pack, half-backs, centres, back three, substitutes, and of course the crowd; another evening, in fact, of perfect harmony in Thomond Park, the number ten again the perfect conductor, hallmarked by three booming wind-assisted second-half touchfinders.

“There was a big breeze out there and the run of the pitch goes from right to left here – small little things you get used to, having played here so often, and I was keen to reward the forwards. Tactical kicking was always going to come to the fore in the second half – we had to kick ‘contestables’ in the first half because of the strength of the wind. I think gradually you just wear teams down, kick for the corners and it’s hard to get out. The forwards were great – the scrum was very good and that platform meant we could get Tomás (O’Leary, scrum-half) running, and he challenges people. The centres were very good – the pleasing thing is we scored four tries and maybe left three more out there. We knew where we wanted to attack but you have to trust your instincts.

“There was a lot of off-the-cuff interlinking, and that was pleasing. Earlsy (Keith) is a big player for us at 13, he’s electric, has an X-Factor that a lot of people now appreciate; that challenges the defence and in Heineken Cup rugby, that’s a big positive. There’s been a lot of good performances here, but this is a great memory for the team to have because we won’t play here again in this competition this year and the supporters have been magnificent. This is a new stadium but it keeps all the old values – I think there are a lot of so-called old players on the team and we are very grateful for the support and the respect we get from our people down here, that makes us tick. I think people went home happy.”