With his worth proven on the big occasion, Nash is now keen to go after Bordeaux's weaknesses
BIG-GAME PLAYER: Calvin Nash during a Munster Rugby squad training at the University of Limerick in Limerick. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
There could not have been a better evening for Calvin Nash to produce his best performance in a Munster jersey than last Saturday in La Rochelle.
The Ireland wing was outstanding when his province needed every one of its players to stand up and be counted as they went up against Ronan O’Gara’s recent two-time Champions Cup winners on their home turf in western France.
Supporters have been used to seeing the 27-year-old as a serious threat to defences with ball in hand but it was Nash’s impact in both defence and attack that made his 80 minutes at Stade Marcel-Deflandre so impressive.
The try-saving tackle on the dangerous Teddy Thomas late in the opening period kept the half-time score to 10-7 while the first of two key second-half turnovers set up Jack Crowley to level the score immediately after the interval, Nash following up shortly afterwards with a big tackle to deny back-rower Oscar Jegou inches from the tryline.
Nash was not the only defensive miracle maker, but it all added up to a fine afternoon for the Limerick man, if not his best in a red jersey, though he admitted his work without the ball may have surprised him, if not defence coach Denis Leamy.
"I really enjoyed the game, felt like I was involved probably from the start,” Nash said. “And it felt like a lot of positive impacts, which is good. I was really soaking it up, to be honest, it felt really good.
"Got a couple of turnovers, so Leams will be happy with that. He's constantly telling me that I have it in me, but I wasn't seeing it.
"I was saying 'when am I going to get it?' And he was saying ‘it'll come’. So to get two of them now, I'm happy out.”
Winning big moments in games is massive part of any team’s objectives and the energy Nash’s at the start of the second half brought to his team was huge.
"Kind of just fell in front of me and I suppose instinct took over,” he said. “That was massive, I enjoyed that one, and it got me straight into the second half as well.
"It was good to get a bit of a break, I'd just got my head stitched at half-time and I missed all the messages.
“So to get back into it straight away was good. I think I got one or two stitches on the top of my head, I don't actually know how many but it was why I had half a tub of Vaseline on my head. I'm still trying to get it out.
“I think those little moments are what eventually win you games. Like, a lot of those moments, I got the bounce of the ball and it just kind of rubbed in my favour that day. And as you saw, it came down to one point.
"So if any one of those other moments went the other way, it could have been a different story. You don't really know.
"Trying to win as many moments as you can in those big games in the long run is definitely going to help the team, so keep trying to do that I suppose."
Munster’s grand day out in La Rochelle has resulted in a return trip to France and a quarter-final tie with top seeds Bordeaux-Begles this Saturday afternoon.
It will be a first European last-eight tie for Nash and he is expecting another big challenge from a side whose backline is the envy of club rugby.
Nash came up against Bordeaux wings Damien Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey in last month’s Six Nations clash between Ireland and France at Aviva Stadium.
The day did not end well for the home side while Bielle-Biarrey put in a performance for the ages that produced the try of the championship and also helped him pass Jacob Stockdale’s record for most tries in a Six Nations campaign, the Frenchman claiming eight to surpass the Irishman’s 2018 record.
"They're absolutely incredibly skilful and they have they have a will to play anyway,” Nash said Bordeaux’s wing duo. “Bielle-Biarrey doing that crossfield kick on his 22 (against Ireland), you know, I'm telling you here and now I probably would never do that.
“That's the type thing that you're up against that they really do play what they see, regardless of where they are on the pitch and they've the pace to match whatever they decide to do with the ball as well.
"They're really dangerous so working as a collective in our defence is one thing but you also have to have a bit of an ownership of making your first-up tackles and putting them under pressure. They can't have it easy all day.
“So we don't plan on rolling over and giving it to them. I know they're great players and fair play to them but we've got to make it a challenge.
"I think they can be got to if we play our game right. I feel like if we're running our shape right and we're playing in the right parts of the pitch that we can put them under pressure, but if we're not transferring pressure properly onto them, with their counter-attack game, if we kick loosely to them they can light up and they can punish you.
"So, yeah, we've seen some weaknesses that we feel like we can go after and hopefully that comes to fruition at the weekend."
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