Reds’ rudest wake-up call
The southern province and defending league champions saw their grasp on second place in the standings slip as a result of this home defeat to the runaway leaders on Saturday in Limerick but in terms of giving Munster a reality check ahead of the main event in seven days this may well prove the ideal wake-up call.
Of course, we seem to have been here before in the build-up to a crucial weekend of European action for both these provinces. Munster were beaten in the league by Leinster at the Aviva Stadium last November in the week before round one of the pool stages and their lack of appetite and intensity at the breakdown was thoroughly exposed by Joe Schmidt’s outfit.
And what happened the following week? Munster defied the odds and strung together 40 phases of brilliantly consistent breakdown work to set up Ronan O’Gara for that famous game-winning drop goal to break Northampton’s hearts.
The pre-pool win over Munster did Leinster no harm either as they sneaked a draw in Montpellier and both provinces completed the group stages undefeated. But whereas Munster’s breakdown work was lacking in that inter-provincial derby five months back, there is much more to worry director of coaching Tony McGahan following this try-less encounter sealed for Leinster by a powerful display of strength in depth off the bench in the final quarter to pull away from their hosts after O’Gara and Jonny Sexton had cancelled each other out with three penalties apiece.
McGahan was understandably not a happy man as Sexton added a fourth and then Leinster replacements Fergus McFadden, with another penalty, and Ian Madigan, with a drop goal, earned the visitors a winning cushion while his side failed throughout to get an attacking platform off a misfiring lineout and a constant debacle of collapsed scrums that ruined this clash as a contest.
“I think we were second best, pretty much, in all areas,” McGahan admitted, before warning his players: “Starting this week, from here on in, there are no second chances and for us. We need to get that realisation very, very quickly and heed the enormity of where we’re at.”
What had pleased him most? “Not too much, to be honest.”
At least McGahan looks as if he will be able to welcome Donnacha Ryan, Conor Murray and possibly Paul O’Connell back to his starting line-up after receiving positive news of their recoveries from injury over the weekend. Ryan (shoulder) resumed training last Thursday while Murray and O’Connell’s respective knee issues have been cleared to allow them to train this week. They will be greatly welcomed back to the fold as Munster look to give themselves more than scraps to feed off against a buoyant Ulster side.
Leinster, meanwhile, appear set fair to continue their European title defence at home to Cardiff Blues on Saturday in Dublin after showing all the attacking endeavour at Thomond Park on Saturday and handing Schmidt his first win in Limerick after four failed attempts with Clermont Auvergne and his current charges.
Despite securing victory via the boot, the New Zealander’s side always looked as if they had another gear to shift up to.
“It will give everyone confidence that we are creating opportunities but in one-off games like quarter-finals you’ve got to nail those opportunities,” Schmidt said. “I think if Munster were at full-strength, and that’s no disrespect to the young guys who played tonight because they are the coming players, but if they had a bit more experience on there I think the fact that we missed those opportunities it would have been a nail-biter and anyone’s game. You don’t want that to be the case next weekend.”
MUNSTER: F Jones; J Murphy, K Earls (D Barnes 67), L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara (Capt), T O’Leary (D Williams 65); M Horan, (W du Preez 53), D Varley (M Sherry 50), BJ Botha; Donncha O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll; Dave O’Callaghan (W du Preez 45-53, T O’Donnell 54), P O’Mahony, J Coughlan.
Yellow card: Marcus Horan 43-53 minutes Replacements not used: S Archer, B Holland, I Keatley.
LEINSTER: R Kearney; I Nacewa, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy (F McFadden 33-37, 65), L Fitzgerald; J Sexton (I Madigan 60), E Reddan (I Boss 64); H van der Merwe (C Healy 53), S Cronin (R Strauss 59), M Ross (J Hagan 77); B Thorn (L Cullen 54), D Toner; K McLaughlin (J Hagan 43-53, S O’Brien 53), S Jennings, J Heaslip (Capt).
Yellow card: Mike Ross 43-53 minutes.Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU).
