Sky’s the limit for peeved McGahan
Sky pundit Stuart Barnes last week highlighted how Munster regularly (illegally) seal off opportunity for defences to cope with their pick and drive attacks, and suggested none of their Pool Three Heineken Cup opponents engaged in similar tactics.
But a clearly irked McGahan last night expressed his disappointment that Sky should have resorted to highlighting Munster operational tactics without comparing like with like.
He was also annoyed with the timing of the analysis 72 hours before yesterday’s crucial European tie against Welsh club the Ospreys, and said it had been noted and considered by French referee Christophe Berdos.
“I would be a little bit disappointed that some of that was shown on Thursday night pre-game; when you’re showing clips of an attacking team in a green zone there are a lot of people off their feet, but as long as you’re attacking and you’re going to clean out someone and work to regain your feet that’s fine.
“To show comparison clips of a non committal defence like London Irish 50 metres from their line (in different circumstances) then I think they’re different ends of the spectrum. I would like to have seen consistency in that (what was shown); it did have an affect on the referee because he mentioned it before the game.
“Those things are fine in post game analysis but before a game three days before is (probably) something we could do without (in the game).”
But on a day of high drama, McGahan was pleased to watch Munster pick up four points. He said: “We’re happy with that because it’s a tough pool and it has been shown in the first few games that home wins are really important.
“When you’re behind 8-13 with 50 odd minutes on the clock, I think you look to get the result and that was the (our) whole focus for the day. Certainly we recognise the importance of bonus points and especially losing bonus points; you would like to deny the opposition that, but they were good enough to get it so you have to respect that.”
When Munster lost talisman Paul O’Connell, the pressure came on strong in the closing 10 minutes and it was then, particularly, that McGahan was delighted with his charges. “Our defence was a real platform for us; we showed great endeavour, the Ospreys are a huge attacking force, even though they played quite a slow game yesterday. They had good field position in the last 10 minutes particularly but we were able to repel that.
“There were crucial moments all through the game, some in our favour, some not. The intercept was a huge turning point; we had shown great pace in that second half and to go from a situation with a two or three man overlap to conceding a try was a massive turnaround.”
McGahan wasn’t surprised at the way Munster clawed their way back into the game, however, noting that experience played a huge role. “That was a 14 points turnaround and these things test the character of a side.”
But McGahan will demand an improvement in the return fixture on Saturday. “It was a stop start affair, there was a lot of pressure and we were still trying to find our feet in a sense, having made so many changes last week from the week before. This one was about bedding in; we knew it wouldn’t be perfect, that’s the nature of rugby. You would like to have everything executed to perfection but against quality opposition in a quality pool that just isn’t possible (always).”
If Sky analyst Stuart Barnes was fixated with the breakdown, McGahan did highlight its importance. “The breakdown (next week) would be a key area, you need quality recycling and the big thing for us is to be able to recycle and carry at our pace.”
Then, in assessing the Ospreys he suggested that Barnes and company might do well to study their tactics in greater depth: “They’re very good not only over the ball, but coming in and blocking the support runners.”
Given the probability that squad skipper Paul O’Connell will get banned after being sent off, the way now seems clear for Mick O’Driscoll to make another start on Saturday.
He said: “We’re certainly a level off from the way we played against Toulon for example. We were disappointed with certain aspects; we just never seemed to get going to the level we thought we could reach. When we got the third try, things were tipping along nicely, but then we seemed to stop at that. We never put a lot of phases together; it was a real stop start affair and there’s a lot to work on.
“We’ve a lot of work this week, it will be a difficult encounter and the main aim is to get the four points on offer.”
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