O’Gara smoothes transition period
You just couldn’t scrip it. His composure under pressure is peerless. The botched effort from Racing Metro’s drop-goal king Juan Martin Hernandez in the final seconds of their amazing cliff hanger against Edinburgh on Friday night — from a far more advantageous position than O’Gara’s — just shows what it takes to execute with precision when the stakes are at their highest.
The net result of the weekend’s activities in Heineken Cup Pool 1 is that progress to the quarter-finals has already boiled down to a straight shoot-out between Munster and the Scarlets, with the latter’s bonus point win at Franklins Gardens putting them in pole position. After just two rounds of action, last season’s beaten finalists Northampton and Castres have already been banished to the realm of also-rans. No side has ever progressed to the knockout phase after losing their opening two games.
Munster’s drive and ambition is as strong as ever. That game-defining phase of play at the death against Northampton underlined the mindset that they simply couldn’t contemplate an opening defeat at home.
On Saturday, a less ambitious side would be more than satisfied with a draw in France, but this group of players press on until the end.
The long held theory when you travel to France is that you have to deny the home side any momentum in the opening quarter and not allow them build a lead of any consequence. So Munster proceed to give Castres an 11 points start after just 13 minutes. It was the worst possible start in a period when Munster appeared off the pace and less than assured in their execution. After last week’s heroics it was no surprise that they looked a little flat in that opening period.
Munster were also guilty of playing too much football in their twenty two at a time when their basics were poor. A failure to find touch on three occasions early on opened the door to the counter-attack and Castres were happy to oblige, wasting no time in punishing the visitors. The key, however, despite the predicament Munster found themselves in, was there was never a hint of panic.
Once again, when Munster adopted a more direct approach the rewards were obvious. Their ability to generate quick ball offered the way forward and the Castres defence was clearly vulnerable when Munster recycled quickly. Niall Ronan was very effective in generating turnovers and keeping the ball alive in broken play.
Munster may be a side in transition but they are learning quickly and crucially are still delivering vital wins while expanding their core of experience which is not easy to do. It helps the process when you have the capacity to call on 349 caps worth of Heineken Cup craft and guile off the bench to augment the efforts of those learning their trade. That was a crucial factor in this win and the manner in which Tony McGahan used his bench contributed massively to this victory.
Once again Denis Leamy had a big influence when introduced, with his assist for Will Chambers’ crucial try a touch of class.
Full marks too to Denis Hurley, the ultimate chaser of lost causes, for providing the field position for that score, catching Max Evans in possession after hunting down yet another fifty metre kick.
Small things like that make a difference and that type of honesty is something that this team still has in spades.
TRAILING by eight points at the break, it could have been even closer had referee Wayne Barnes been more decisive in his handling of the scrum. This area was shambolic throughout the game with far too many resets.
After a sequence of five metre scrums before half-time, Paul O’Connell’s decision to opt for a kick at goal from a penalty took the pressure off Barnes at a time when he was struggling to deal with the fact that Castres were continuously pushing before the ball was put into the scrum. While O’Connell appreciated the need to register at least three points, the truth is that Castres were perfectly happy to only concede three such was the pressure they were under.
Despite the change in personnel and the evolution of a new side, this group of players still retain the mental toughness that was central to the two Heineken Cup-winning teams of 2006 and 2008. Peter O’Mahony, outstanding for the second week in-a-row, is living proof of that. His crucial try four minutes into the second half made up for the missed opportunity before the break.Chambers announced his arrival with an impressive second-half contribution that not only produced a crucial try but yielded evidence that a line-breaker may be about to emerge.
It helped the visitors that this was probably the least intimidating setting for a pool game I can remember in France and the decision by the hosts to shift the game from their home patch backfired badly with their own supporters travelling in small numbers.
While Munster have a long way to go to match the pace and inventiveness that Leinster displayed in the opening half against Glasgow yesterday and remain a long shot for Heineken Cup honours this season, at least another important step has been taken in the rebuilding process. The younger brigade can now add a win on French soil to their growing Heineken Cup CV as they prepare for the crucial back-to-back phase of the tournament against a rejuvenated Scarlets outfit next month.
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