O’Donnell belief knows no bounds

Munster’s players may be having trouble getting comfortable with the way Rob Penney wants them to play but his relentless positivity has filtered through to his squad.

Not for them the disappointment of a bonus point missed in Edinburgh but the celebration of a 26-17 away win in Europe that keeps alive hopes of qualification for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals ahead of this Sunday’s final pool game with Racing Metro.

It is all good and it can only get better, is the gist of Tommy O’Donnell’s outlook and no one who has watched the 25-year-old Munster back-rower at work this season should deny him that luxury.

On a sleety and snowy Sunday at Murrayfield, O’Donnell cut an impressive figure at openside flanker; strong in defence, tenacious at the breakdown and doing his fair share of carrying, too.

His performance proved an excellent foil for man of the match Peter O’Mahony on the blindside and gave him a strong claim for an extended run in a No 7 jersey that has been distributed widelly as forwards coach Anthony Foley strives to fill the considerable vacuum that has existed in the absence and then enforced retirement of David Wallace.

So positive is O’Donnell, in fact, that when asked where the four tries are going to come from against Racing Metro at Thomond Park that will secure the bonus point essential for a chance of qualification as a best runner-up, he lets out a chuckle before replying.

“That’s funny, but the tries are going to come,” he said without a hint of doubt in his voice. “Just a bit of belief and Munster, in Thomond Park, with their backs against the wall, we’ve done it I don’t know how many times before.

“The belief is still there, the players are still there. We’ll just take it step by step next week and we’ll score one, then two and work our way up and see how it goes.”

For the second time in a fortnight, Munster will be asked to kick-off at 12:45pm on Sunday but there will be no repeat of the past weekend when O’Donnell and company ran out to a Murrayfield Stadium largely ignored by the Edinburgh public, less than a 10th of its 67,500 seats occupied and the majority of those by an impressive and vocal travelling support.

O’Donnell does not expect Munster’s home support to be any less passionate and is looking forward to a special Limerick experience, regardless of the kick-off time.

“I want it, I’m looking for the place to be rocking. You see the amount of fans who travelled over [to Scotland] today, it was exceptional. You could hear them in the warm-up and you knew it was something special. There was family, there was friends and they were all shouting. You can’t beat the fans that we have.”

Given the conditions, O’Donnell said the squad was satisfied to have left Scotland with a victory and reminded anyone feeling disgruntled of an alternative scenario other than securing a winning bonus point.

“Everyone in the dressing room’s feeling pretty tired and pretty sore after that but a win is a win and we’re happy to come away with that,” O’Donnell said. “There would be a big difference now if we’d have lost. That would have been season over but we’re still fighting, we’re still there and there’s all to play for next week.

“The sleety snow came down this morning and I was looking out and thinking, well, this is going to be an effort, it’s going to be an absolute battle here. And it was.”

Munster stuck rigidly to the game plan of securing victory first, by any means, before striving for the tries that would have given them a little more breathing space next weekend.

So penalties were aimed at the posts rather than the corner, as Munster built a 12-3 half-time lead. In truth, they could have scored tries in open play but yet again chances were squandered, not least just before the interval when Edinburgh were under the cosh on their own line and sloppy play undid a gilt-edged opportunity for five points.

O’Donnell agreed that a more cutting edge was necessary.

“I suppose we could have done with a try in the first half. It didn’t come and we were unlucky in a way,” he said. “I don’t think it was the telling moment because we got opportunities again in the second half.

“We probably just need to be more clinical. There were chances there where the ball didn’t go to hand or we tried an offload. Some days they stick, some days they don’t but hopefully they’ll stick next week.”