Flannery admits Biarritz dominated

MUNSTER hooker Jerry Flannery has admitted that Biarritz gave his side a ‘going-over’ in the Heineken Cup semi-final on Sunday.

“Biarritz are a very well-drilled scrummaging unit and we have to be honest – they gave us a going-over and it’s one of the primary reasons we lost the game. We’ve got to hold our hands up.”

Flannery described the loss as ‘devastating’.

The Irish international added: “You only have so many chances to win a Heineken Cup over the course of your career. When we won in 2006 you think you’ll have a load more chances to add to it. Then 2007 slipped by, we managed to win it again in 2008 but last year and now this season again, it’s very disappointing.

“It’s not good enough saying you have to learn from this and come back, although that’s what we have to try to do. We’re lucky enough to have been competitive again and to get to the semi-final but it’s just devastating to fall short.”

Flannery was pleased with Munster’s performance in the opening half but bemoaned a failure to take all their chances.

“We managed to get our noses in front with a great try from Keith Earls and we could have scored another one after that after my run. I haven’t seen it again, so I don’t know whether Rog (Ronan O’Gara) should have held onto it or not.”

Flannery also paid tribute to the thousands of Munster supporters who travelled to the game.

“It was late, 1am on Monday morning by the time we got back home. The airport was packed. All the supporters were being real sound, singing as we came through and that makes you feel even worse – you feel like you’ve let them down,” he told Joe.ie.