Flying start earned semi spot, says O'Gara

Man-of-the-match Ronan O’Gara admitted Munster’s flying start against Stade Francais had been the key to winning a place in the Heineken Cup semi-finals.

Munster scored three of their four tries in the opening half hour as they swept into a 17-0 lead and were 24-10 up at half-time.

But Stade Francais won the second half 22-13 to make Munster work hard for their 37-32 Thomond Park victory.

O’Gara, who landed 17 points with the boot, said afterwards: “It was a very strange game to be involved in. The way we played it – going into a good lead in the early stages – meant it was a long 80 minutes, but, overall, it was a satisfactory performance.

“We said all along the start was key and in the first 20 minutes, I felt we were outstanding.

“Everyone knew Stade were going to come back at us in the second half, but, with a two-try lead we were confident.

“You saw how they could play after the break, with a lot of pace out wide and (Ignacio) Corleto was dangerous, but it was a win we deserved in the end.”

Munster coach Alan Gaffney knows whichever Zurich Premiership outfit comes out of tomorrow’s Wasps v Gloucester quarter final clash will be a “quality side” to try to overcome in the Lansdowne Road semi-final in a fortnight.

“It doesn’t really matter who we play in the last four, we know they will be quality opposition”, said Gaffney.

“I was very happy with what we did today and thought we were the better side. As expected though, it did go down to the wire and I suppose we’re very much relieved to get over this hurdle.”

Stade Francais captain David Auradou expressed his side’s disappointment at letting Munster in for some soft scores early on.

“We started very badly and we were too far behind throughout the game,” said the 40-times capped French international.

“We had to fight well in the second half, knowing that a defeat would probably put us out of next year’s competition, but it was not our day.”