PAUL O’CONNELL cut a contented figure as he reflected on a good afternoon’s work in the south of France, the only caveat to the success, a knee injury sustained by young centre Keith Earls. He was being assessed by the Munster medical team and will undergo further examination when he joins the Ireland camp today.
Munster coach Tony McGahan admitted: “We don’t know the prognosis. It’s his knee. We will just wait and see. He feels okay but we’ll have to wait.”
The Australian professed himself satisfied with the result, a viewpoint shared by O’Connell, who conceded: “It’s always easy to be at 100 per cent when everything is on the line. I know a home quarter-final was on the line but in some regards everything wasn’t on the line so it was a very good performance. Last week, after all the negative press Thomond Park had got in the previous couple of weeks it was an easy week for us as a team to be ready to play (against Sale Sharks). This week was a lot different, (starting with) the upset from yesterday (in terms of having the game rescheduled).
“Apart from the first 10 minutes, it did not really affect us too much. We gave a ruthless and professional performance. It was top class and a real strong example of our mentality as a squad.”
Munster had a gilt-edged opportunity to score just before the interval but despite sustained pressure for over five minutes on the Montauban line, they allowed the home side to escape. It rankled but O’Connell pointed out it reinforced Munster’s determination to start quickly on the resumption.
“It was a blow not to score then but you (the team defending) pay for that pressure. You have to pay the price when you defend for that long. It’s probably easier to attack when you’re in that position, easier on your legs and your lungs than it is to defend that many phases close to your line.
“So it probably helped with Lifiemi’s (Mafi) try just after half-time and even the ones towards the end. Over the last few weeks we’ve got a few soft tries but they’ve come from sustained pressure.”
He went on to explain that the decision to postpone the game on Saturday – Munster were in a team meeting when the decision was made – meant the squad and management made a conscious effort not to dwell on a significant distraction. “We tried not to let it disrupt us. We had a nice day, we played an indoor soccer tournament. We went for a meal, watched a few movies in the team room and just hung around together and enjoyed each others’ company. We’d a good laugh on Saturday and we were ready to play today.
“The wind yesterday (Saturday) would have been 40 minutes into a gale, 40 minutes with a gale, and it comes down to referees’ decisions then. In those conditions it’s about penalties and it becomes a bit of a lottery. Today the lottery was taken out of it.”
He did accept the early raft of penalties Munster conceded ensured it took them longer to settle into the match. “Penalties release pressure on teams, when we’re building pressure and we give away penalties we’re releasing pressure so it’s something we’re trying to address all the time but we can’t let it stop us playing either.
“The home quarter-final is massive, massive for our supporters as well. The amount of them that came here again, a lot of them had to change their flights. I went for a walk last night and met a few of them in town and they had changed their flight and took an extra day off work so they could come to the game. So I’m delighted for them (the home quarter-final) that they won’t have to dig deep into their pockets.
“It is a very good finish (to the pool stages). These games worry me a lot. The big days in Thomond Park very often don’t worry me in the slightest . . . I know where we are going to be at as a team. These days sometimes worry me but I think the mental strength of the squad is getting better and better. I felt very good about the boys going into the game today.”
