Awesome ’Cuddles’ cuts down Munster

Considering he had blown enough fuses in his time to put the lights out all over Limerick, Jamie Cudmore was always liable to leave Munster in a dark place.

Mon, 08 Dec, 2014 - 00:00

Peter Jackson

By the end of a sobering night, the Theatre of Miracles had witnessed another – Clermont’s trigger-happy bruiser not only going the distance but negotiating it without once giving the referee cause to wag as little as a finger in his direction.

As soon as Munster ran out of time, about an hour after they had run out of ideas, one image stood out among a thousand others as truly a sight to behold.

Like a latter-day Caesar, a beaming Cudmore clenched a gigantic left fist and raised it to salute those who had travelled from the volcanic region of the Massif Central.

The Munster faithful came expecting to see the big bad Canadian bear raise his mitts not in joy but in anger as he had done when Clermont were last in town almost exactly six years ago. Cudmore embraced the season of goodwill to all men by fighting Paul O’Connell and getting himself sent off inside the opening quarter.

Clermont, 13-11 ahead with two minutes left, lost to one of those Munster miracles, leaving Cudmore to count the exorbitant cost of his red mist.

At 36, Saturday night offered a final shot at redemption for a man who has gone closer to collecting a full pack of cards than anyone else, 37 and counting.

He was terrific, never more so than when Munster belatedly went through the phases from close-range, 17 followed by 22.

The sight of Cudmore smashing O’Connell back did as much as anything to leave Thomond’s thousands thunderstruck – unable to understand how Munster got a point out of their pulverising.

As a lumberjack back home in the forests of British Columbia, the man laughably known as ‘Cuddles’ cut down some tall timber in his time but nothing to compare with the assortment of Oaks, Douglas Firs and Redwoods he and his team felled on Saturday night.

That it had taken the French 17 years to capture Munster’s citadel made the storming of the Bastille seem like a piece of cake as supposedly recommended by Marie Antoinette to the starving peasants.

Six players helped off in 17 minutes of action

Ravenhill has witnessed some staggering matches but never one with as many staggering players as Saturday night. During a period of 17 minutes, four Ulstermen and two Scarlets had to be helped off.

It all started in the 48th minute with home prop Wiehahn Herbst followed by his compatriot Franco van der Merwe, the victim of an accidental clash of heads. It ended in the 65th minute with Ulster’s substitute centre Stuart McCloskey making a painful exit holding his left arm. By then three more had beaten him to the casualty list – Nick Williams (Ulster) plus the Scarlets’ duo, Liam Williams and James Davies.

Having lost Stuart Olding before half-time, Ulster fear their bonus point win may prove to be a pyrrhic one.

Owens weary of getting an earful from players

Thirty minutes into the Leicester-Toulon match last night, Welsh referee Nigel Owens found himself suffering from a severe dose of earache. He called the captains and read the riot act.

“This game is difficult enough to referee without me having to listen to everyone shouting in my ear,” Owens told them. “This nonsense finishes now or the next people are going to go. ”

Minutes later, Owens rebuked a Toulon player in inimitable fashion: “Cut it out and get on with the game. If you don’t, there will be no game for you to get on with.”

And to think once upon a time rugby prided itself on accepting the referee’s word as law without a murmur of complaint.

Evans exits and first blood to Quins

This time Harlequins won it fair and square. No clandestine trip to the joke shop in Clapham for a few capsules of fake blood and an attempt to cheat their way to victory by getting an injured Nick Evans back on the pitch for what might have been a winning drop shot.

The New Zealander’s early exit with a groin strain turned out to be the only similarity between yesterday and Leinster’s last appearance in London when Harlequins stooped low into the dirty tricks department.

Ultimately it cost them a fine of €300,000 and the mighty Dean Richards his job as director of rugby.

Leinster will go into Saturday’s return in Dublin anxious to show everyone that they are still in the business of scoring tries.

All 39 points from their last two Champions’ Cup ties have come from Ian Madigan’s boot – seven penalties in Castres, six more yesterday.

Prophetic words

‘We’re going there to win,’ Clermont full-back Nick Abendanon said pre-match. ‘We have amazing backs like Wesley Fofana and Camille Lopez and some skilful forwards’.

Ospreys hanging on

Justin Tipuric: Inspirational performance for Ospreys against Racing.

Ospreys, just about hanging on to their dream thanks to a Justin Tipuric- inspired late try against Racing, managed to salvage a draw despite being shorn of their first three looseheads – the international trio of Nicky Smith, Ryan Bevington and Duncan Jones. They started with Marc Thomas as their fourth choice and finished with another fourth-choice, Dan Suter, on the opposite tighthead side of the scrum. By contrast, the money-no-object Parisians were able to summon a French international, Julien Brignaut, off the bench to prop up their scrum. And who else but Toulon could lose four Test match goalkickers — Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Matt Giteau (Australia), Frederic Michalak (France), James O’Connor (Australia) and still be able to afford a fifth at Leicester last night – the Argentinian Nicolas Sanchez.

Three rounds down, three to go and this is how they lie:

Out for the count: Sale Sharks, Montpellier, Castres, Treviso.

On the ropes: Ospreys, Scarlets.

Fighting back: Bath, Ulster, Wasps, Leicester.

Still unbeaten: Quins, Toulouse, Racing.