O’Connell hails the young brigade for Munster’s revival

Paul O’Connell acclaimed a coming of age for Munster’s new guard of unheralded players as he marked his comeback from back surgery with a man-of-the-match performance against Harlequins.

The centre of all the attention after another famous Munster day of glory, O’Connell credited the less experienced members in the squad for standing up in their side’s hour of need to belie recent poor form, including a 51-24 defeat to Glasgow, and conjure a performance to shock Conor O’Shea’s English champions, landing their heaviest blows with four hard-earned penalties converted by Ronan O’Gara in the 16 minutes after half-time.

“I suppose there was a lot of doubt after last week,” O’Connell said.