Madam, - A great weekend for Irish rugby was tarnished somewhat by the discourtesy shown to the visiting Perpignan team and supporters by the Munster Branch which, I understand, was responsible for Saturday's match programme at Lansdowne Road.
It was bad enough that the programme cover showing only Munster players but inside we were treated to not two but four facing pages of pen-pictures of the same players with nothing at all on the visiting team.
Further in, we had two more full pages detailing the appearances of every single Munster player over the past year. Still nothing on Perpignan. Thumbing through the programme, some of us were beginning to wonder were we here to look in on a Munster training session.
The only mention of the visitors in the entire 76-page glossy production, apart from the small-font printout of the team in the middle page - much of which was inaccurate - was a single sentence by the Munster Branch president, in English.
One might think that the cúpla focal in French or Catalan would have been easy enough to come by, but "Why bother?" seems to have been the attitude. One wonders how people would react if the Leinster Branch, which is hosting the semi-final in three weeks' time, behaved in a similar fashion towards Munster.
The Catalan club's website made interesting reading this week. Despite showing understandable disappointment at the outcome of the match, the writer finishes thus: "Particular mention must be made of the Munster fans. Despite their loud and often ear-splitting support for their own side before and during the match, they nevertheless observed 'la silence de cathédrale' during the penalty and conversion attempts by the visiting kicker and all weekend long demonstrated an exemplary degree of conviviality and friendship towards their Perpignan counterparts. They deserve that their team progress to the semi-finals."
It's just a pity that the Munster Branch - on this occasion at least - failed to live up to the high standards of its supporters. - Yours, etc,
BILLY FITZPATRICK, Terenure, Dublin 6w.