Lessons to be learnt but Munster can live to fight another day

“WHERE to now?” came the rhetorical question from a fan as we returned from Munster’s defeat against Biarritz on Sunday night.

Back came the answer: “Cardiff next Sunday”.

Literally speaking it was correct, given that Munster have a crucial date with the Blues in the Welsh capital on Sunday as they bid to make the knock-out stages of the Magners League.

The questioner, however, had longer term questions in mind. He was looking ahead to the future when, as always, the Heineken Cup remains the Holy Grail for Munster players and supporters alike.

He wondered how much longer a team that is growing old together, in rugby terms, can keep going.

They have reached the knock-out stages of Europe’s showpiece tournament in each of the last 11 seasons with a team that has changed little from year to year.

Having paid tribute to all Munster have achieved, it is now time to consider the areas that have caused serious problems over the years and others where shortcomings now need to be addressed.

THE SCRUM: It has rarely been an area in which the team has prospered. What makes the situation even more worrying is the ages of John Hayes (36), Marcus Horan (32) and Tony Buckley (30). There are much younger men like brothers Dave and Tim (now with Toulon) Ryan, as well as Stephen Archer and a few others showing promise, but without a meaningful All-Ireland League in which to test their mettle, there is no guarantee that they will eventually reach the levels of men like Hayes and Horan .

THE LINE-OUT: Never has a Munster team been dominated in this area to the same extent as San Sebastian on Sunday. They lost or had their own throw disrupted up to a dozen times and the longer the game went on, the worse it became. Accuracy and placement have been one of the strong points of Jerry Flannery’s game but on Sunday he overthrew on a couple of occasions. Mick O’Driscoll and Donncha O’Callaghan were well contained, with Alan Quinlan the only one to make a few clean catches. Paul O’Connell will be back, of course, and his class in this area and leadership qualities will improve matters appreciably. Of those coming through, I believe Billy Holland is the one to watch, with great things also hoped for Ian Nagle.

THE BREAKDOWN: Coach Tony McGahan has long been lamenting the team’s shortcomings in an area that has become more and more important in the modern game. Getting there first is largely the key and for all his many undoubted attributes and genuine speed and strength, it’s not something that comes naturally to David Wallace, but if there’s a home-bred number seven lurking in the long grass, I haven’t seen or heard of him.

LOSING PLAYERS: There will always be natural wastage with players retiring or overseas players returning to their homelands. Jean de Villiers is the classic example as he heads back to South Africa at the end of the month to pursue his Springbok World Cup ambitions and will be greatly missed. He’s the latest of a distinguished list of overseas players to have represented Munster including men like John Langford, Jim Williams, Trevor Halstead, Christian Cullen, Lifeimi Mafi, Paul Warwick, Rua Tipoki and Doug Howlett. Times have changed where availability of such talent isn’t always readily available - especially going into a World Cup year.

Munster’s recruitment skills will be severely tested.

AGE: When the forward pack is fit next year, the chances are that Denis Leamy will be the only player under 30. In particular I would worry about the back-row where Alan Quinlan, 36 in July, and David Wallace, 34 five days earlier, may have only one more season in them at the highest level. The back-row is usually where big, young men like to strut their stuff these days and it’s no different in Munster but, again, replacing stalwarts of the calibre of Wallace and Quinlan will be a mammoth task.

Is it all doom and gloom? Of course not, with Tony McGahan rightly pointing out that they had been written off many times before and again this season yet for much of Sunday looked a good bet for their fifth final.

Forwards like O’Connell, O’Callaghan, Leamy and Flannery have proven themselves at the top level and have several good years left, while Hayes, Horan, Wallace and Quinlan aren’t done for just yet.

Helping to do that will be younger men like the gifted Keith Earls and Tomas O’Leary with Scott Deasy and Tom Gleeson also looming as exciting prospects and Jeremy Manning impressing of late.

Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer, Paul Warwick and Doug Howlett will all be available next season so the core of a very decent back division is there for the foreseeable future.