O'Connell content with Cup revenge

Man of the match Paul O’Connell was satisfied with Munster’s 36-8 Heineken Cup victory at home Castres, declaring it was “job done”.

The five-try Pool 4 win sent out a message to Europe’s rugby union elite and the 25-year-old second row, mentioned by British and Irish Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward as a possible 2005 tour captain this week, was one of four Munster forwards – including skipper Anthony Foley – to touch down as they gained revenge for their 19-12 defeat last week.

“It was never going to be pretty after last week,” claimed O’Connell, whose 49th minute converted effort put Alan Gaffney’s side 24-8 in front, after the early concession of Castres wing Benjamin Lhande’s try.

“We were hurt having lost in France, and we felt we didn’t live up to everything the Munster jersey stands for. It was another tough forward encounter, maybe even more physical than last week.

“We can take a lot of heart from the performance – it’s job done. To take a bonus point against a French team, you’d take that any day.”

Former Wasps flanker Paul Volley came in for some criticism for his over-zealous treatment of Munster number 10 Ronan O’Gara last week, but admitted: “Ronan was flatter last week, and he used his backs a lot more today, and you can’t afford to give the likes of (Christian) Cullen and (Mike) Mullins space.

“We just didn’t function in the second half, we took our foot off the gas. The Munster boys turned up the heat and credit to them, they played well.”

O’Gara – who broke Diego Dominguez’s Heineken Cup record 645-point barrier by four points, with three conversions and a penalty – was sin-binned in the second half after an altercation with former Ulster prop Justin Fitzpatrick.

The Ireland international insisted of his yellow card: “I was disappointed to let my team mates down, but it was a thing of nothing really.

“We achieved the bonus point and our goals, so it’s now just a case of re-assessing and moving on.”

O’Gara, who also earned his 50th European cap, said of his new points record: “It was nice to do it at Thomond Park, in front of a full house. The supporters gave us a great backing tonight and we’re just thankful we could reward them with a win.”