AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP SEMI-FINAL Munster 12 Harlequins 20:NO TEAM, not even one of Munster's storied resilience, can expect to win a game of rugby after committing this many errors. They broke themselves here.
The suggestion that adherence to Tony McGahan’s playbook had helped Munster turn a corner, with the evidence being the second-half revival against Leinster a few weeks back, and that failure to emerge from their Heineken Cup pool was merely a “blip” (to borrow a word already famously ingrained in the lexicon of Irish rugby history by Philip Browne) has proved incorrect.
The only way they can salvage any joy from this season is to win the Magners League and to do so at Leinster’s expense in the final.
Otherwise, the hugely concerning and repetitive nature of their mistakes on Saturday will reflect the current state of Munster rugby.
“If I could I would (explain it),” said McGahan. “It is inaccuracy. Concentration. A whole number of things. It is certainly not the skill level or ability because we have some excellent players and a very high skill level developed over a long period of time.
“We need to muscle up in the contact areas,” the Australian surprisingly admitted. “We were beaten in defence of our ball and beaten at the breakdown of their ball.
“We really stood off them and our inability to make first-up tackles and we didn’t get enough squareness in the line to get people off the edges and held back and they continually built momentum, it was like a training run for them at times.”
Due credit must go to Conor O’Shea’s Harlequins for becoming only the second team to win at Thomond Park in 42 European games. And they did so by remaining true to their usual attacking patterns via their three-quarters, much like Munster’s new way, but far more effective. They, equally, tackled like demons when the hosts abandoned their structural approach in a desperate attempt to bludgeon out the victory up front.
The irony that it was all marshalled by a man who hails from All-Ireland winning Kerry stock was not lost on the natives but a shocking catalogue of poor handling and decision-making seemed even more evident when the tide needed to turn entering the last quarter.
The momentum seemed certain to swing back in Munster’s favour when McGahan unloaded the old guard from the bench. Paul O’Connell and John Hayes electrified the faithful when jogging out of the tunnel for the start of the second half, as Harlequins’ All Black outhalf Nick Evans failed to reappear due to an ankle injury, while Marcus Horan and Peter Stringer arrived on 58 minutes.
At that time 21-year-old Rory Clegg was posting his second penalty, to make it 20-7, when established Munster bugbear Roman Poite adjudged that O’Connell killed the ball under his own posts.
Harlequins almost killed the game with a penalty try moments later but Italian TMO Guilio de Santis decided that Doug Howlett did not impede George Lowe’s failed attempt to ground the ball after the umpteenth mistake in midfield, this time by Lifeimi Mafi.
Enough already!
Munster upped the intensity and it seemed like normal service had resumed when Howlett dived over in the corner a minute later.
But the try was disallowed for a forward pass by Felix Jones.
Five minutes later Howlett was sent clear again only for another certain try to be pulled back as O’Connell’s offload was forward.
Fourteen points gone abegging in what seemed like the game’s seminal moments.
How did Munster land themselves in such a dangerous situation?
Errors, damned errors, committed by usually reliable players led to first-half tries for lock George Robson and quick-thinking scrumhalf Danny Care. And it would have been far worse if Evans’ injury had not hindered his goal-kicking.
O’Gara, relishing the responsibility that came with the captaincy, decided on 38 minutes to spurn a kickable penalty, which would have made it 14-3 at the break, instead punting to the corner. Damien Varley had messed up a couple of lineout throws before this crucial fling to Mick O’Driscoll.
The pack had three rumbles at it before quick hands from ever-improving scrumhalf Conor Murray, O’Gara, Mafi and after some clever stalling by Paul Warwick the departing Australia put Jones bobbing through the only hole in the visitors’ defence.
O’Gara’s conversion had Harlequins stumbling towards the dressingroom despite still leading 14-7.
O’Connell and Hayes immediately went to the maul to sap the ’Quins forwards’ strength but the points refused to follow while, in contrast, Clegg was admirably filling the void left by Evans.
Still, when the English side lost number-eight Nick Easter to a red card (he and Donncha O’Callaghan had been sin-binned earlier for a bit of hugging) entering the final 10 minutes, their collapse seemed imminent.
Yet some more sloppy handling meant Howlett’s try didn’t arrive until the 78th minute but this last spark of hope was extinguished by O’Gara’s touchline conversion drifting right to leave an eight-point deficit.
Forced or unforced errors, Munster threw away a place in the second-tier European final with a performance that doesn’t mirror their form of recent months but it may yet reflect their entire 2010/11 campaign.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 8 mins: G Robson try, 5-0; N Evans conv, 7-0; 33: D Care try, 12-0; N Evans conv, 14-0; 39: F Jones try, 14-5; R O'Gara conv, 14-7. Half-time. 48 mins: R Clegg pen, 17-7; 58: R Clegg pen, 20-7; 78: D Howlett try, 20-12.
MUNSTER: F Jones; D Howlett, L Mafi, P Warwick, K Earls; R O'Gara (capt), C Murray; W du Preez, D Varley, T Buckley; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; D Leamy, D Wallace, J Coughlan. Replacements: P O'Connell for M O'Driscoll, J Hayes for T Buckley, S Tuitupou for P Warwick (all half-time), P Stringer for C Murray, M Horan for W du Preez (both 56 mins), J Murphy for K Earls (64 mins), D Ryan for D O'Callaghan (68 mins), M Sherry for D Varley (73 mins).
HARLEQUINS: M Brown; G Camacho, G Lowe, J Turner-Hall, U Moyne; N Evans, D Care; J Marler, J Gray, J Johnston; O Kohn, G Robson; M Fa'asavalu, C Robshaw (capt), N Easter. Replacements: R Clegg for N Evans (half-time), C Jones for J Marler (65 mins), T Vellejos for O Kohn (72 mins).
Referee: R Poite(France).
