RUGBY:Saturday came down to attitude and intensity, writes LIAM TOLAND

THE DIFFERENCES between these two great teams, tribes and cultures remain, but one thing will forever be common. Willie Anderson calls it “now you’re talking, a wee bit of dog”. God only knows what Waterford hurling coach Davy Fitzgerald calls it, but Tony McGahan calls it “attitude and intensity”.

One week on from Cardiff I found myself once again soaking up the atmosphere. Thomond Park was heaving like the old days. It had the edge of a Munster Cup final of old, wise cracks from the terraces; Shannon versus Garryowen; Young Munster versus Cork Con.

The breakdown gives so many clues to the mental and physical state of “mind”: attitude and intensity. Casting my mind back to 1998, when I watched these two in Garryowen RFC, there’s simply no comparison to the quality, but the intensity remains. There were many turnovers, overthrows and even knock-ons, but the skill set on show was exemplary.

Whenever a square inch of white leather was spotted on the deck, hordes of ferocious would-be stealers would pile in. The ball was not to be sacrificed. Paul O’Connell has perfected the turnover steal on the deck. Reasonable work for the stocky lads, but at 6ft 6in this is no mean achievement. To achieve any hope of a steal his timing has to be perfect. I counted seven times he either slowed the ball to a snail’s pace or effected a turnover. He displays huge patience as his team-mate tackles an opponent. His instinct isn’t to rush in but wait and then pounce. When he does, his inverts his body and dives onto the ball as if “piking” from the five-metre platform.

Seán O’Brien’s instinct is to rush, but in his case it is to pulverise the breakdown; different technique, similar outcome.

Of the three Munster tries, the first was my favourite purely because the lead-up play created huge space for Lifeimi Mafi to exploit.

On Friday I feared that Munster, under pressure, would revert to type, rumbling around the fringes. They did this plenty of times, most notably through O’Connell, who had a towering effort around the park.

However, it doesn’t over-tax defenders. Shortly before Doug Howlett’s try, Munster were in their half, working hard. From a breakdown on the right they shuffled across the park. Jamie Heaslip started as a pillar defender and simply drifted inside the ball, shepherding all the way to the far touchline. I wondered where the Munster back-play was.

But then buckets of space was created for Mafi. Notably, there were no decoy support runners to fix the Leinster defenders, but plenty of horrible space to defend.

The other tries were pretty, pretty too! Once again Munster went for the “attitude and intensity”, pummelling Leinster up front before a class cross-kick from Ronan O’Gara to Keith Earls.

Quite how O’Gara stayed on the pitch, or was allowed to stay on the pitch after his battering, is a moot point. Or is it?

One man who did was John Hayes, who must have enjoyed the last few minutes of this season more than any before. Heinke van der Merwe did ask him some stern questions in the first half, where Munster’s put-in was not as stable as Leinster’s. But in true fashion he battled to the finish. Anytime he’s in a lineout it is him I watch, not the hooker or the targets, just him. What’ll we do without him?

Donnacha Ryan will be an interesting man to watch over the coming seasons. At 27 he’s hitting his peak. I watched him closely on Saturday and he has much to offer. Munster employed his lineout superbly and he works very hard around the park. However, if he wants to hold down the number six shirt he could learn not from his opposite man, O’Brien, but from Jamie Heaslip. The Leinster number eight had a fine game on Saturday but his use of feet in contact is where Ryan could vastly improve his carrying. Neither player is “massive”, but Heaslip manages his time on the ball excellently, always exposing the weak shoulder, getting a powerful shoulder turn and soaking up the peripheral vision before deciding on what next to do. Invariably the ball’s transferred to a support runner. If Ryan could develop this to his game, dominating the tackler, he could make it to New Zealand.

As for Leinster, they came close. You could say they were tired (and they were), but some decisions confused me. Why did Jonny Sexton elect to take that (waga) first penalty kick? Why then, some time later, did they elect to go down the line to touch with a penalty and not kick it from a very favourable position?

That they battled to the end shows what a culture exists in Leinster. But in failing on the double just highlights what a culture Leicester have in winning European and English Premiership titles in one season. It’s no coincidence Leinster’s winning habit coincided with the return of Leo Cullen, but also Shane Jennings. As stated before, he’s a different player now but he was very comfortable marshalling the tail and all the red traffic through it. He did offer much more yesterday, linking for O’Brien’s kick chase and he carried more than I’ve seen all season, especially through heavy traffic.

His opposite man, David Wallace, has the best technique in the tackle, ball-carrying and defence of the Munster pack. Turning points were a plenty, but his (and Munster’s) defence on their line in the third quarter was immense.

Saturday came down to attitude and intensity alright. With minor changes in the management team and new blood on the way Munster’s challenge will be to maintain those two key components and consistently create more space for their 12 and 13 in midfield. If they can do that while feeding more youth into the side, they’ll be very hard to stop.

PS. Check out Munster Rugby’s home page. I wonder what Ronan O’Gara’s thinking?