Leading from the front
Just never on the opening day of a Heineken Cup campaign, and certainly not as two-time champions defending their Thomond Park fortress.
Tomorrow’s visit of Northampton Saints is not a do-or-die knockout game on faraway foreign soil, but a Pool 1 opener in Limerick.
Last year’s finalists may be of very solid English provincial stock but they’re not the Biarritz or Toulouse of yore that O’Connell and his Munster cohorts faced down on those famous away days during the last decade.
Yet here we are, in the context of the failures of the last European campaign, when the horror of an early Heineken Cup exit was compounded by an Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final defeat at home to Harlequins, and discussing Munster as underdogs hosting Northampton and then travelling to Castres in November as potentially season-defining.
“It’s a massive two weeks,” O’Connell said. “It can really set up our season, if we can do the simple things well and play to the best of our ability.
“You look at these games, we’re playing at home, lost last week to Leinster, we just need a big Munster performance this week and try not to look beyond that and try not to look at the effects this can have on our season.
“We just need to throw everything at this game this weekend and make sure we get a result.”
O’Connell backed his head coach Tony McGahan’s view that there had been a lot to work on following last Friday night’s RaboDirect Pro12 game against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, which he agreed was lost primarily at the tackle area and his side’s lack of aggression there.
“The attitude is right, it’s just the breakdown is probably where we lost the game mainly at the weekend and we need to be more technical and more aggressive at the breakdown. That’s a big part of the game, along with set-piece probably the most important part. I think Leinster were excellent there at the weekend and we need to match that and go beyond it this weekend.
“At times we definitely put way too many (players) in. It’s been technically better with the first two guys that get in there, doing their job and making sure that we clean everything out of there so that other guys don’t feel the need to go in there. It keeps more people on their feet for your kick-chase, to play ball or do anything you want to do. So I suppose they both go hand in hand, being physical and aggressive at the ruck and being technically good at the ruck.”
The Munster captain is renowned for the homework he puts in on his opposition and he has further knowledge of Jim Mallinder’s Northampton side having played the Saints three times two seasons ago. Aside from the obvious strengths in the scrum, their relatively unsung back row of Phil Dowson, Roger Wilson and Tom Wood as well as the more vaunted front five help to bring a lot of intensity to the breakdown, setting up another key battle area for the weekend.
“They’re very similar to Leinster at the breakdown actually,” O’Connell said. “I remember reviewing them two years ago and they were excellent when we looked back on the game away from home, excellent at the breakdown. (They) got beyond the ball and won the space over the ball as soon as the tackle happened. I suppose that goes along with their make-up, they’re a really physical pack, they maul, they scrum well, they kick-chase really well and obviously they’ve a really good back line as well.
“They can play it every way and their breakdown work is very similar to Leinster’s and for us it was probably a good lesson for us at the weekend.”
For O’Connell, the standout memory of those three games in 2009-10 was not the two home victories, the second of which was a quarter-final, but the opening 31-27 loss at Franklin’s Gardens.
“I remember at the time — it’s funny, in the week after the Leinster game — we took a lot of what they did at the breakdown in the game over there away from that game. You have a split second to win the space over the ball, and the team that are there earlier and are more aggressive and technically better generally win it. I remember over there in Franklin’s Gardens when we played them two years ago they were excellent at that. Same as Leinster were last week, it kind of taught us a lesson and gave us something to work on.”
At 32 and with his experience of big-time rugby with Munster, Ireland and the Lions, O’Connell will never get melodramatic at times such as these and, returning to the underdogs theme, he put forward a neutral view of the state of play heading into this weekend’s Heineken Cup opener.
“You’d rather be favourites, you’d rather be coming off a win against Leinster and we’d rather have qualified last year but those are the facts and that makes us underdogs. There’s nothing we can do about it. (Northampton) are the team that made the Heineken Cup final, they were excellent as well in the English Premiership last year and they’ve shown good form since their World Cup players have come back. Whether it annoys us or not is irrelevant. It is what it is and we need to change that and turn that around.
“It’s important we play to the best of our ability. We’re not worried about laying down markers or making a statement to anyone. It’s important that we play good Munster rugby at the weekend and the only people that matter to us are the coaching staff and the people involved in the province. That’s who we’ve to prove ourselves to. We’re not worried about making statements or anything like that. We’re coming off a disappointing result for everyone here and the supporters, a disappointing result against Leinster. We’re at home now in a Heineken Cup week and it’s important for us that we play well.”
“It disappoints. There was always a period of time going to come when we didn’t qualify... but the manner of the defeats disappoints me more than anything.”
“The Heineken Cup is certainly a step up in everything – the size of the guys you play against, the skill levels, the tactical awareness of the guys you play against. For the guys who are coming in, the likes of Danny Barnes, Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray, it’s a big (yardstick)... but the young guys that are in there have played in big games for us already. It’s not like these are their first big games and they wouldn’t be picked if they weren’t prepared enough or good enough to play.”
“They base so much of what they do on physicality. They’re excellent carriers, excellent scrum, excellent maul. You know, if they could have finished out the game in the final they could have won a Heineken Cup. They dominated teams in their progression to the final last year and dominated Leinster for 40 minutes in the final.”
“I feel great. I had plenty of time off last year, so I’m just enjoying being back in, playing week in, week out. That’s where you find your form, not being off for a few months, getting back in for a few weeks and then being off again. I’ve enjoyed it, I’ve only played maybe eight or nine games so far this year and I’m just back after two weeks off, when I got away for a holiday. So I’m as fresh as I could be.”
32
August 17, 2001 v Edinburgh
October 6, 2001 v Harlequins
57
45 (9 tries)
Honours:
Winner 2006, 2008 (captain)
Finalist 2002
Semi-finalist 2003, 2004, 2009
Quarter-finalist 2005
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