Defiant Munster focus on positive side

Nobody within the Munster setup has tried to put a gloss on the performance in last week’s European Champions Cup defeat by Saracens. But end-of-an-era talk? They are not buying into that.

Denis Hurley, who has given yeoman service to the province as full-back (where he did himself proud in the 2008 Heineken Cup triumph), wing and centre, struggles to conceal his annoyance on hearing this kind of gloom.

“We are professional players and if we believe this is an end of an era, then there is no point in us turning up this weekend or training tomorrow,” he says forcefully. “We have to go forward in the belief that we are a good enough squad to perform and to achieve at the top levels in Europe.

“We are not a team that will fall away. There are always good players coming through. This season, last season, there are a lot of younger lads who were unheard of. Now their names are on the sheet week in, week out. It is just about competing with the bigger clubs, who have more resources than us, with our heart and soul.”

That is the strong message coming out of the Munster camp.

“If only we had 15 Peter O’Mahonys, we would win these matches every week.” The rueful remark of a Munster supporter in the wake of last week’s European Champions Cup debacle at Saracens.

You knew what he meant. When it comes to outstanding talent combined with outright, total commitment, there are few in the modern game to match the Munster captain. Typical of the man, he faced the media this week with a very heavy heart when clearly he would probably prefer to have been just about anywhere else. It was his job, though, and he was as professional as ever. Ahead of the final Pool 1 game against Sale Sharks, the defeatist gloom doesn’t sit right with O’Mahony either.

“It’s not that Munster is going to go away or has gone away. We’ve got to believe in ourselves and in what we are doing.

“Munster is a team that drew in players because of what we do. We have to stick at it. We’ve had a good look at ourselves, we know it’s there. We have a good squad. There are good guys there at the moment and good young fellas coming through. We have to just keep plugging away.”

The week has certainly taken its toll. “You don’t want to go out,” he said quietly. “It’s frightening the difference between a big win and a big loss. It’s a tough place to be but that’s the job we’re in, I’m afraid. It’s been a very, very tough few days.

“This has certainly been the hardest time in my captaincy but you can’t hang around feeling sorry for yourself. You’ve got to get on with it. We’ve got to go out on Sunday against Sale and dig deep because we let a lot of people down last week. The carrot for me is to prove to the people we let down last weekend, those who travelled, those at home, our families, friends; to show them our passion and the belief in the jersey hasn’t changed. That is very important to me.”

His frustration at the poor performance against Saracens is evident but O’Mahony would rather focus on internal solutions.

“If we’re not going to hang on to the ball, if you’re going to carry on making the mistakes that we made, you are never going to deal with a team like Saracens at home. We gave them every opportunity, every platform. You’re not going to compete if you’re playing like that.

“I don’t think any of the players used lack of money (for overseas players) or injuries as an excuse. We haven’t given any excuses. We were very poor. It doesn’t matter if you have all the money in the world, if you’re Toulon, whoever, it doesn’t matter. If you’re going to play like that, you’re not going to beat them.

“Munster has never been flowing in money. We have always relied on our academy, the players coming through with a passion to play for Munster.

Once the Sale game is out of the way, O’Mahony and six or seven other Munster players will join the Irish international camp at Carton House in the build-up to the Six Nations Championship and will be missing from the province for a couple of months. Would he have preferred a few more matches with Munster to try and set the record right?

“Look, we set goals at the start of the year that we want more people playing international rugby and if we do that, our standards will go up when guys come back,” O’Mahony said. “There are four games while the internationals are going on. How important they are for us and I would have a huge amount of confidence in the senior guys that won’t be involved with Ireland, that they will be leading the charge.”

Sunday’s game might be a “dead rubber” but Hurley sees it as the start of the road back to bolstering morale within the squad and regaining the belief of the fans.

“Last week, as disappointing as it was, is a driving point for us this week,” he reasons. “We know we have to go out and play for each other and prove that we are a talented squad, that we are a team to be reckoned with.”

And he also points out that the team has travelled this road before.

“The last time we didn’t make it out of the group stages was 2010-2011 and it throws up the same things that are in the media, about where Munster are, what players are there, whether an era is coming or going. Within the squad there is a lot of soul-searching. I don’t think we ever go into a game expecting to lose.”