Munster ... 33 Gloucester ... 6 There may have been days as good as this, there may be days ahead to compare, but certainly there'll be none better. Thinking about it in the cold light of day still sends a shiver down the spine. Even as epics go this was pretty extraordinary.
Who does write these guys' scripts anyway? Imagine going to even the most barmy of Hollywood producers with your pitch. Here it goes: England's finest come to close out an era. Given scarcely a 50-50 chance of even winning the game, an heroic but faltering Irish team need to win by four tries and at least 27 points to go through. Two converted tries short, cometh the hour they get their third and the local boy wonder, Ronan O'Gara, nails an impossible touchline conversion. In the last minute they get their fourth, and yer man does it again.
They win by four tries and 27 points. Harry Houdini has indeed relocated to Limerick. Cue pitch invasion and the cord between players and supporters is strengthened by a cumulative sing-song. No one wants to go home. It's the stuff of dreams.
In the team meeting the night before, Mick Galwey had told his players to believe, and anything was possible, that it would even eclipse beating the All Blacks. That it did, but in fact, little did Galwey or seemingly anyone else know, for he was merely talking about finishing the campaign with a win.
The Munster management may have known on the sideline as O'Gara addressed that fateful conversion, but the players thought they had already done enough. Thanks be to God he did, for imagine if the singsong had been followed with news that they'd come up a kick short?
"None of us had a clue 27 points was the difference," admitted O'Gara.
Asked whether he was glad he didn't know Munster's qualification for the quarter-finals of the European Cup for the fifth year running hinged on that kick, O'Gara said: "In one regard I am and in another regard I'm not. But I'd hate to be in the showers now having let it slip by a point. It's a crazy margin between going through and not going through."
Indeed, think about it. So many key moments in hindsight, even dating back to Peter Stringer's "consolation" try in Kingsholm (did he reach the line?), Alan Gaffney's message to take the three-pointer 14 minutes into the second-half, Gloucester turning one down five minutes from the end when it would have put them through, each of these four tries and both of those last two conversions. In the end, they got there by a point, without even knowing it themselves.
Four seasons ago O'Gara shaved a post in landing a match-winning conversion to beat Saracens, with only the Munster management knowing that, in fact, the try tally in a 29-30 defeat had been enough. While, eh, they miscalculated the endgame in Castres last season.
They're a gas lot though, and for the most part even when Munster get it wrong, they get it right.
Coupled with the pressure the phenomenal Munster maul applied, the Gloucester pack were rocked on their heels from start to finish. In another throwback to vintage Munster wins at home, a seminal moment was the eighth minute up-and-under which O'Gara skied towards a nervous Henry Paul, the full back unpardonably letting it bounce. The "bombs" yielded field position for two penalties and by the time Paul was hauled off, the damage was done.
Inspired performances were produced throughout the team. Anthony Foley is a legend. End of story. Mick O'Driscoll, what a game. No doubt weary of hearing of Paul O'Connell's absence, he was imperious in the lineouts and more besides. Even a try-scoring winger. Hats off to Frankie Sheahan, rebuilding his confidence and his game after last season. His was a monumentally cool and assured display.
Alan Quinlan was the other extreme, for he must have transgressed dangerously close to a yellow card himself. But by playing on the edge he comes up with so many big plays, grabbing a key Gloucester throw at the third attempt, winning loose balls he had no right to win. Donnacha O'Callaghan too, chasing down O'Gara restarts like a man possessed. But to play with such energy and controlled passion for the full 80 minutes was remarkable.
Behind them, Peter Stringer gets better all the while and seemingly quicker too. O'Gara mixed his game beautifully, Jason Holland's football brain and kicks created two of the tries and Mike Mullins added real bite in midfield, targeting Ludovic Mercier's weak defence for a morale-lifting early break in the build-up to John Kelly's first try.
All 15 players were great, with no need for reinforcements either. The Thomond factor, no doubt, for all week supporters had been talking about the reduced atmosphere this season. The wall of noise when Munster took the pitch never abated. They were the 16th man.
This was a sumptuous dish, served piping hot and from the Munster coalface - Gloucester goosed. Super confident English pacesetters of the "best league in the world" strutting into Thomond Park with a 2,000 army of supporters. Confidence oozing from every pore, smugly backed by such luminaries as Jeremy Guscott who last Sunday forecast that the Gloucester pack would crush the Munster eight.
This was accompanied by forecasts from visiting supporters and British media alike that Gloucester were not only virtually assured of qualification, but were set on ending Munster's unbeaten home record at Thomond Park.
Munster listened, read, said nowt and stored it up inside. But not only did it galvanise Munster, Gloucester seemingly bought into the hype.
English superiority complexes, especially on Irish rugby fields, can never be overlooked. Clearly, Gloucester hadn't done their maths any more than their strategic homework, scarcely considering the equations if their qualification was put on the line. Had they done so, they'd have known that a three-pointer would have been worth its weight in gold.
Instead then, Mercier tapped a penalty five minutes from time with Munster still a try and seven points short of the minimum requirement. It was virtually straight in front of the posts just outside the 22. Had better prepared or calmer heads prevailed, a three-pointer then would have made the last minute dramatics irrelevant.
The Zurich Premiership may indeed be a great league. But it doesn't prepare you for Thomond Park.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 9 mins: O'Gara pen 3-0; 12 mins: Mercier pen 3-3; 17 mins: Kelly try 8-3; 30 mins: Mercier pen 8-6; 38 mins: O'Gara pen 11-6; 40 (+3) mins: Lawlor try, 16-6; half-time - 16-6; 44 mins: O'Gara pen 19-6; 59 mins: O'Driscoll try, O'Gara con 26-6; 80 mins: Kelly try, O'Gara con 33-6.
MUNSTER: J Staunton; J Kelly, M Mullins, J Holland, M Lawlor; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, J Williams (capt), A Foley, A Quinlan.
Gloucester: H Paul; J Simpson-Daniel, T Fanolua, R Todd, T Delport; L Mercier, A Gommarsall; R Roncero, O Azam, P Vickery (capt), R Fidler, M Cornwell, P Buxton, J Paramore, J Boer. Replacements: A Hazell for Buxton (48 mins), T Beim for Paul (60 mins),C Collins for Paramore (69 mins).
Sinbinned: P Buxton (38-48 mins), O Azam (64-74 mins).
Referee: J Jutge (France).
