McGahan’s young guns push powerful Tigers to the limit

MUNSTER coach Tony McGahan doesn’t do losing well, but he managed a few smiles when reflecting on a narrow defeat to Leicester Tigers at Musgrave Park last night.

It was no disgrace, felt McGahan, that a youthful and inexperienced side should fall by a mere four points as they produced a performance that often captivated the partisan home crowd, particularly in the dying moments as his youngsters went in search of victory.

“Nobody likes being beaten but we have to look at this game from our own angle – they had a fairly full-strength squad while we had a lot of young players; the guys did very well and gave it a good shot,” said McGahan.

Stand-in captain Denis Leamy was also delighted, given that he came through 70 minutes of an intense game in his first outing in months. Now, he admitted, his biggest worry is not fitness but competition.

Leamy scored Munster’s only try, but gave more credit to Donnacha Ryan for charging down an attempted clearance by Ben Youngs.

The opening sequences, though spoiled by some handling mistakes, were exciting as both teams went in search of scores. Of particular significance to Munster in that spell was their ability to hold the Leicester scrum without any suggestion of difficulty; ian du Preez and Stephen Archer looked comfortable on either side of Denis Fogarty.

A bigger bonus came when Paul Warwick kicked the opening points with a superb penalty from halfway in the 16th minute. Leicester took the initiative six minutes later off the back of a poor lapse from referee Dudley Phillips, who ignored a blatant block on Munster debutant Sam Tuitupou. The visitors took possession and winger Alesana Tuilagi swept in for a try that Toby Flood converted brilliantly from the touch line.

But the action continued unabated, even to the point that Leicester prop Boris Stankovich was shown a yellow card for a sideswipe at Munster winger Ian Dowling.

Warwick kicked a 37th-minute penalty to narrow the gap to a single point, but the Tigers forced a penalty from a struggling scrum and Flood added to points to secure a 10-6 lead at the break.

The Tigers fell foul of the referee again early in the second-half when captain Geordan Murphy was binned; Munster took advantage with a 48th minute block-down try from Leamy, and Warwick converted to push his side into a 13-10 lead.

That lasted for just eight minutes as Leicester regained the initiative with a second try from Tuilagi – after Danny Barnes had been binned – that Flood converted. Leicester held out to win, but the changes rung by Munster coach Tony McGahan saw the youngsters add a new drive to Munster’s efforts, in particular Simon Zebo.

Leicester coach Richard Cockerill was relieved but also delighted that his side was so vigorously challenged. “Pre-season games mean little in the overall context of a year, but this was a good match and it tested us.”

MUNSTER: S Deasy; Denis Hurley, D Barnes, S Tuitupou, I Dowling; P Warwick, D Williams; W du Preez, D Fogarty, S Archer; B Holland, D Foley, D Ryan; T O’Donnell, D Leamy (capt).

Replacements: P O’Mahony for O’Donnell, F Jones for Tuitupo, I Nagle for, Foley, Darragh Hurley for Archer (all 40), J Coughlan for Ryan, C Murray for Williams (both 57), M Sherry for Fogarty (58) S Zebo for Dowling, D Ryan for du Preez, P Butler for Leamy (all (70), C Hircock for Barnes (76).

LEICESTER TIGERS: G Murphy (capt); S Hamilton, M Smith, A Allen, A Tuilagi; T Flood, B Youngs; B Stankovitch, G Chuter, D Cole; C Green, G Skivington; T Waldrom, B Woods, J Crane.

Replacements: D Hipkiss for Smith, M Castrogiovanni for Cole (both 40), E Slater for Crane (53, injured), M Ayerza for Stankovitch (55), J Grindal for Youngs, J Staunton for Flood (60), L Robinson for Tuilagi, B Twelvetrees for Allen (both 69), S Hamilton for Murphy (71), T Youngs for Chuter (72)

Referee: D Phillips (IRFU)