Some more vintage Red

INSPIRATIONAL, brave, committed, skilful … all these adjectives and many more apply in spades to a magnificent Munster machine that completely outgunned the Australian tourists in appalling conditions at Thomond Park last night.

The Wallabies may have been a long way short of what could be reasonably expected of such a proud rugby nation as they miserably failed to cope with the gale force wind and rain that blew unrelentingly into the Ballynanty end of the pitch. Nothing but nothing, however, should detract from this latest superb performance by a Munster side that, as always, raised their game against overseas opposition to dominate the exchanges whether playing into or with the elements.

Some 21, 314 drenched and frozen members of the Red Army cheered this combination of the young and not so young to the echo. It was Munster’s fourth win over the Wallabies and arguably the most decisive. If there was to be one regret, it was their failure to score a try but they could hardly have come closer on at least four crucial occasions when they were foiled only be the whistle of New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence. Nor did a ball akin to a bar of soap help in that respect.

Collectively this was the kind of irrepressible Munster performance with which we have become so familiar on these occasions. Individually, it was awesome to watch as young forwards like Ian Nagle, who fully merited the man of the match award; Peter O’Mahony and Billy Holland kept going when they might well run out of steam against much older and more experienced opposition. There wasn’t even a sign of that happening.

“Happy days”, glowed 22 year-old Mallow man Nagle. “I’ll live off this for another year. It was freezing out there but we were just trying to reproduce the performance of the team two years ago against the All Blacks when they were pipped at the post. We got that one back and we’re thrilled it came our way this time.”

The older hands were there to a man as well with Damien Varley finding Nagle time and time again with remarkably accurate line-out throwing and fearlessly throwing himself into the most turbulent parts of the battle. Skipper James Coughlan led by example, the support of Niall Ronan was unstinting and props Wian du Preez and newcomer Peter Borlase demonstrated just what the red jersey and the cause meant to them.

Munster were never going to put themselves in the way of making silly mistakes and that placed an additional onus on half-backs Paul Warwick and Duncan Williams.

Warwick, proving the class act he is in this, the most recent of innumerable performances in the Munster jersey, broke the hearts of his fellow countrymen with his magnificent kicking combined with his shrewd reading of the flow of the game. He contributed all of his side’s points with three penalties and two trade mark drop goals when accurate kicking in the conditions was well nigh impossible. Williams hardly put a foot wrong nor did any of the remainder of a back line.

While the home team’s performance didn’t come as a surprise to Jim Williams, Australia’s assistant coach and head coach Robbie Deans were left reeling at the way his side was demolished. It is safe to conclude that none of those in action last night will be even considered for the Test side against Italy in Florence on Saturday.

Given the weather conditions, containment was always going to be of the essence for Munster but to their great credit they were also prepared to spread the ball wide and always kept the Wallabies guessing. A second minute penalty by their captain Berrick Barnes might have been expected to imbue the tourists with a certain degree of confidence but that was far from the case.

Instead it was Munster who looked by far the more composed and committed side. Warwick dropped a memorable goal against the All Blacks in the corresponding game two years ago and he repeated the act by equalising with typical calmness and skill in the 5th minute. The Aussies had to withstand some fierce pressure midway through the half as Warwick, Varley and O’Mahony were stopped within inches of the line.

Barnes did put the Wallabies ahead with a second penalty on 27 minutes but the pressure was unrelenting and the yellow card for centre Anthony Faingaa for a professional foul added to the Wallabies problems. Warwick duly made it 6-6 with a fine kick into the teeth of the gale and after the thirty-man brawl that further enthused the crowd, the second half got under way with two further Warwick penalties.

Munster piled on the pressure with referee Bryce Lawrence twice intervening to award relieving penalties for Australia. Midway through, Warwick scuffed a penalty attempt only for substitute Pat McCutcheon to knock on and offer another drop goal chance from the resultant scrum that Warwick popped over with typical aplomb. Prop Ben Daley was binned late on to finish off a shocking night for the Wallabies.

MUNSTER:J. Murphy; D. Howlett, S. Tuitupou, K. Earls, D. Hurley; P. Warwick, D. Williams; W. du Preez, D. Varley, P. Borlase, B. Holland, I. Nagle, P. O’Mahony, N. Ronan, J. Coughlan.

Replacements:T. O’Donnell for O’Mahony injured 64; M. Sherry for Varley 70; C. Murray for Williams 74; S. Deasy for Murphy 75; S. Archer, B. Hayes and B. Murphy for Borlase, Nagle and Earls, all 77.

AUSTRALIA: L. Turner; R. Davies, P. McCabe, A. Faingaa, L. Monahan; B. Barnes capt, L. Burgess; B. Daley, S. Faingaa, S. Ma’afu, D. Mumm, R. Simmons, S. Higginbotham, M. Hodgson, R. Brown.

Replacements:T. Polota-Nau for Faingaa 45; V. Humphries for Brown 52, P. McCutcheon for Ma‘afu 60; N. Phipps for Burgess and P. Hynes for Turner both 57.

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand).