Power shifts from Munster to Leinster

AS RUGBY weekends go, this one couldn’t have started much better from an Irish perspective.

Outstanding wins for Leinster and Ulster on Saturday guaranteed the former’s Heineken Cup quarter final berth with Ulster also on the verge of the knockout phase for the first time in 11 years. Connacht also did their bit with an excellent victory in Bayonne. No pressure on Munster then as they waited until yesterday in their fight for survival against Toulon.

Munster’s most recent experiences on the road against French opposition delivered outcomes that were poles apart in terms of performance, invention and results. If the victory over Perpignan in the hostile surrounds of the Stade Aime Giral proved the highlight of last season, then the sterile showing in the Heineken Cup semi-final against Biarritz represented the low point. Travelling to Toulon, I couldn’t help but wonder which Munster side would turn up.

Unfortunately as early as the 24th minute we had our answer with Toulon in a commanding 16-3 lead. When Paul Sackey extended that lead to 17 points with a second Toulon try, Munster were history before half time. This was about as comprehensive a hiding as you could get at this level and a team that have given so much lookedsadly out of touch.

For Munster to have any chance of competing in the Stade Felix-Mayol yesterday, two fundamentals simply had to be in place. The first was discipline, given the presence of one of the all time great point accumulators, Jonny Wilkinson. Munster failed that test miserably and have nobody to blame but themselves. Donncha O’Callaghan’s sin-binning before half-time was the last straw and left his side in an impossible position. For a player of his experience it was unacceptable.

The second crucial area was the scrum. Once again Munster were found wanting, conceding a free kick and two penalties in the first four scrums alone. In the south of France, the scrum is a test of your manhood. Dominate that phase when playing at home and everything else flows naturally. Despite the fact that there were only six scrums in the opening half they were significant enough to influence the outcome of the game to a crucial degree. It was hard enough to compete with eight forwards; with O’Callaghan in the bin it became impossible.

The other question that needs to be asked is why Munster, playing away from home, never sought to contest the fight for territory. Once again, in a carbon copy of what we have seen lately — and specifically against Glasgow Warriors last weekend — Munster passed laterally across the field, expending huge amounts of energy without achieving anything in terms of yardage or line breaks.

At one stage in the second quarter, Munster retained possession through five phases in the area between the ten metre and half way line for a net gain of two yards. It finished up with a knock on from Johne Murphy. It was symptomatic of what was happening all day. Nobody ran dummy lines in an effort to fix defenders and Toulon were able to defend with ease. It was sad to see as a great team with so much experience and know how seemed transfixed and unable to change the way they were playing. With that they lost their composure and self control.

TOULON couldn’t believe their luck and were in such a commanding position by half-time, they forgot to come out and press home their advantage in the second half. For a period with Munster well beaten, it looked as if they were going to let themselves down completely as mayhem ensued, culminating in the harsh sin binning of Ronan O’Gara. The game had become academic at that stage.

Paul O’Connell, incredibly one week short of a year since his last start in the red of Munster, must be wondering what has happened in his absence. On a personal level with so little game time of late, his achievement in lasting until the 73rd minute was super human. On this performance Munster are but a pale shadow of the side that scared opposition all over Europe for a decade. It was inevitable that something like this would happen at some stage.

The middle five for Toulon were outstanding throughout with the quality back row of Joe Van Niekerk, George Smith and Juan-Martin Fernandez Lobbe the complete force both in attack and defence and in their ball-carrying duties. That enabled the half-back combination of Wilkinson and Pierre Mignoni to direct and control the course of this contest. To his eternal credit, David Wallace battled the odds to the bitter end.

The fact that London Irish defied the odds and beat the Ospreys meant that not only have Toulon announced themselves as a force in Europe, they have now qualified for the quarter-final from this bear pit of a pool with a game to spare. Munster, once kings on the road, failed to win any of their Heineken Cup pool games on the road this season and as a result miss out on qualification for the first time since the 1997-98 season. Unlucky 13 and all that.

With a week of pool games to go, Northampton, Toulouse, Toulon and Leinster are all now qualified. From an Irish point of view, the Heineken Cup baton has well and truly been passed to Leinster who on recent evidence have the capacity to go all the way this year.

Meanwhile, Munster will be left licking their wounds with a lot to ponder. Topping the Magners League will prove a poor consolation at this stage. Munster’s side yesterday contained some of the greatest players to ever wear the red jersey and their exploits in this magnificent tournament will stand the test of time and are unlikely to be equalled. No wonder they looked so crestfallen leaving the field at the end. Toulon coach Philippe Saint-Andre has finally had his day against Munster. Good luck to him.