Let’s drive on, says O’Connell
With two rounds of the Heineken Cup in the books, there can be few who could have predicted that Saturday night’s league clash between Munster and Edinburgh at Thomond Park would be a meeting of two of the form teams in Europe.
Both Munster and the Scots have provided plenty of drama in the opening weeks of the competition, the Irish province eking out wins against the odds at home to Pool 1 rivals Northampton and, last Saturday, in France against Castres.
Michael Bradley’s Edinburgh have, if anything, topped those heroics with their start in Pool 2, winning at London Irish and then coming from 24 points down to beat French moneybags Racing Metro 48-47 at Murrayfield last Friday night.
So O’Connell stressed the importance of maintaining momentum ahead of the resumption of Heineken Cup duty on December 10, when Munster visit Wales to play pool leaders Scarlets.
“Edinburgh have won their last two games, they came from behind to win 48-47 (against Racing) and also beat London Irish away so they’re playing really well,” O’Connell said.
“So whatever team takes the pitch next week needs to keep that going, keep the drive and the belief going for the team.”
Winning away in the Heineken Cup for the first time in two seasons did wonders for the Munster squad’s self-belief, particularly the less experienced members, O’Connell said following the last-gasp 27-24 win at Toulouse’s Stade Ernest Wallon on Saturday.
“It’s a big relief. It was an important win for us.
“I think last year the manner of some of our defeats were poor, the attitude of some of our defeats was poor, so to hang in like we did today and in the dying minutes shows belief and the right attitude is in the team.
“To achieve anything in the Heineken Cup you need to win your home games but you need to go and be dogged away from home, so many people will talk about the home record in the Heineken Cup but it’s all about winning your pool games.
“It’s about hanging on then when you go away from home.
“Teams are very proud, Castres obviously are like every other French team, they’re proud at home. They were always going to be up for that game and be physical and there were times that they were on top of us and we held on and that’s a big part of the belief process for the young guys.”
While there was plenty to work on following the Castres game, Munster head coach Tony McGahan said he had seen some improvements from the previous week’s game, when his side had relied on Ronan O’Gara’s memorable drop goal to rescue a home win over Northampton, not least in outscoring Castres by three tries to two.
“I think our attack had a little bit more shape to it.
“At times we kicked better; not on a consistent basis over the 80 minutes. They were two areas we focused on and breakdowns are an ever-moving entity of the game that we just need to continue to work at each week.”
The set-piece, he conceded had “had its moments” against a strong Castres scrum and maul, “and I thought we competed pretty well on defensive line-outs and there didn’t seem to be a lot of line-outs in the game on our own ball.
“They are the contact areas you need to make sure you’re getting right.”
They will need to right if Munster are to claim another invaluable away win in west Wales in 18 days.
O’Gara, for one, is looking forward to the clash between the group’s two unbeaten sides, Scarlets having secured an away win at Northampton Saints on Friday.
“They were very impressive against Northampton,” O’Gara said.
“They’re similar to ourselves in terms of their good tradition and they’re pretty level-headed guys and they have a fantastic coaching squad and they’re full of confidence at the minute. Confidence is a powerful weapon but saying that, too, if you can tap into that and crack them you don’t know how they’ll respond, But at the minute they’re a form team so it should be a big one.”
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