Donal Lenihan: Toulouse stir patience and poise into powerful mix

The big worry was the quality the visitors held in reserve on the bench. With that in mind, it was key for Munster to hit the ground running from the outset, which they managed to do.

TRY: Munster's Joey Carbery crashes over for the opening try at Thomond park.

Maybe it’s something to do with their famous red shirts but, from day one in European competition, Munster have held Toulouse in a special place.

The feeling is mutual, something you mightn’t have anticipated after the first meeting between the sides. To be in the Stade Ernest-Wallon for that inaugural encounter back in November 1996, when Munster were blown away by 60-19, you wouldn’t have envisaged Munster ever competing on equal terms.

Incredibly, within a period of four years, that changed for the better on a famous day in Bordeaux when, against all odds, Munster beat the famous “Le Rouge et Noir” by 31-25 in their first ever Heineken Cup semi final.

The trademark red and black shirt may have been temporarily swapped for the pristine white away gear on Sunday but that historic aura of quality and finesse still radiated for all to see as French captain Antoine Dupont led his charges onto the Thomond surface.

Not that everyone was sure they had arrived. The fog was so thick when they emerged from the dressing room, it was difficult to distinguish who was who on the Toulouse side as those white shirts merged menacingly with the foggy surroundings.

There was a sense of pride in the fact that Munster’s entire match day squad, 15 of whom graduated through the academy ranks, were all Irish qualified. With nine of France’s Grand Slam-winning squad on duty, along with rising Italian star Ange Capuozzo, New Zealand World Cup winner Charlie Faumuina and England’s Jack Willis involved in the visitors' squad, this contest was set to reveal much about where this developing Munster group stand.

The big worry in advance of kick off was the quality the visitors held in reserve on the bench. With that in the back of their mind, it was key for Munster to hit the ground running from the outset, which they managed to do courtesy of a well-worked try in the opening ten minutes.

When Munster opened proceedings with a penalty from the first scrum of the game, an area where they were always going to be under pressure, confidence levels soared. To survive in Thomond Park the visiting back three have to show cause under the traditional aerial bombardment sure to come their way.

When Matthis Label made a complete hames of the first bomb to arrive in his zone, Munster were up and running, the crowd on their feet, everyone playing their part. With field position established, Munster went to work. Big early carries from Gavin Coombes gobbled up the yards. A five metre line out maul was initially repelled by the gigantic Toulouse front five but crucially momentum was maintained to allow Joey Carbery crash over for the perfect start. That opening quarter promised much, with Munster managing to impose their new attacking shape to good effect.

If was hard to escape the feeling, however, that Toulouse were standing back, assessing the opposition, preparing to strike at the first smell of an opportunity. That’s exactly what they did with their first entry into the Munster twenty two.

That came courtesy of a clear call to ramp up the pressure on the Munster scrum on their first put in which yielded a penalty. With a combined 43 stone of brute force coming through from the second row pairing of Richie Arnold and Emmanuel Meafou alone, Toulouse launched a thunderous maul that propelled Munster back 15 metres. Munster were left with no choice but to infringe.

From the penalty advantage, the influential half back pairing of Dupont and Romain Ntamack fashioned space on the wide out side channel for Label to exploit. It was as if the French Grand Slam half backs were testing their range of possibilities.

When Antoine Frisch took the bait and shot out of Munster’s’ defensive line, ending up in no man’s land tackling fresh air, the mercurial French made their mark off their first real attacking opportunity. Having absorbed all the early pressure, they appeared quite satisfied with themselves when retreating to the dressing room on level terms at the break.

They used the opening half to size up the opposition in the knowledge that, with six fresh forwards on the bench, they had the capacity to grind Munster down. To survive, Munster needed a positive opening ten minutes on resumption.

To do that it was imperative to cut out the unforced errors and retain possession of the ball. They did the opposite. When a loose pass on half way was seized on by the ever-alert Toulouse full back Thomas Ramos, his first instinct, as Toulouse had done all afternoon, was to drill the ball long and parallel to the touch line.

The cruel bounce of an oval-shaped rugby ball was so often prove decisive in the past and when Ramos’s kick changed direction at the last second and cannoned off the leg of the covering Frisch to bounce into touch five metres from Munster’s line after you feared the worst given that Toulouse now had a ravenous line out to feed.

To their credit, Munster worked a minor miracle to hold up the visiting pack only for the ever astute Dupont to slip a brilliant offload to replacement winger Lucas Tarzan to score from his first touch two minutes after his arrival. That in effect was the game as Toulouse controlled possession and territory, superbly orchestrated by Dupont, just doing enough to see them home.

Munster showed sufficient character to pluck a losing bonus point in the dying embers of the game from a Carbery penalty. Not that Toulouse were in any way concerned about that. Not many teams have come to Thomond Park over the years and left with a win.

On the final whistle, a massive Toulouse huddle on the half way line, jammed packed with players, support staff, traveling reserves and club administrators, revealed just how thrilled they were with their afternoon’s work.

With the enticing carrot of a Champions Cup final scheduled for the Aviva Stadium next May, Leinster launched their latest European campaign with a dominant and massively impressive performance over a disappointing and error-strewn Racing 92 side in the unfamiliar surrounds of La Harve.

Whether or not the French hosts were lulled into a false sense of security on the back of a nightmare journey for Leinster from Dublin airport on Friday when they encountered a delay of over 10 hours, it was Racing who looked out of sorts right from the outset.

Leinster were determined not to relapse into a culture of excuse at a time when, in the circumstances, a slow start might have been expected. On the contrary a try after five minutes, off a dynamic line out maul from the excellent Andrew Porter, set the pattern for what was to follow.

If Leinster’s defensive line speed spooked Racing into a succession of handling errors and discommoded Finn Russell’s ability to orchestrate their attack at the gain line, it was their rapid recycling at the breakdown that enabled them create multiple opportunities in attack.

A four-try bonus point was impressively bagged by the 62nd minute facilitated, it has to be said, by some really poor discipline from Racing. Two yellow cards to that point was exploited to the full with Leinster amassing three tries when the opposition were reduced to 14 men.

A final winning margin of 32 points, with 6 tries bagged on the back of a highly impressive performance, has laid an indicator for others with aspirations of going all the way this season.

Leinster have set the early benchmark with a totally dominant performance, away from home without arguably their three most influential players in Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and Tadhg Furlong, against a side currently sitting second in the French Top 14 table. Everyone else has been put on notice.