TONY McGAHAN yesterday went through the ritual of naming a 25-man squad for Saturday’s eagerly awaited all-Ireland Heineken Cup semi-final at Croke Park, and ritual it was. Even the dogs in O’Connell Street, be it Limerick or Dublin, know the make-up of his starting team and most probably his replacements.
Some bloke called Paul O’Connell, Kieran Lewis, Federico Pucciariello and, in light of Tomás O’Leary’s horrible misfortune, Mike Prendergast, have been added to the squad who were on duty for the win over the Scarlets last Friday. Presuming O’Connell will reclaim his place, the only changes to the quarter-final line-up will see Peter Stringer start in O’Leary’s absence, with Prendergast promoted to the bench.
McGahan admitted he knows his line-up. “Our side is well settled, it has been like that for a few weeks so we’ve got a good idea who is there. We are dealing with a relatively-free injury list. That also makes things easier for us.”
Save for O’Leary, and the continuing convalescence of Rua Tipoki and Frankie Sheahan, McGahan reported a clean bill of health, and all systems are going as normal. Yesterday’s afternoon session was an impressively slick affair, skills drills and a full team run-out seeing hardly a ball dropped despite the high intensity.
Munster have been an ultra professional machine this season, churning out nine successive wins since the defeat to Ulster on January 3rd, in maintaining a dual assault on Europe and their fellow Celts, and this week nothing has changed.
“We’ve kept everything the same, exactly what we’ve done every other week going into a big game, so a double session here on Tuesday, train on Thursday and then prepare for Saturday’s game,” said McGahan.
Nor would Stringer’s recall in the absence of O’Leary change anything. “No. Our systems etc will stay exactly the same. Tomás is well noted for his defensive capabilities off first-phase attack and also on phase attack. Peter possesses great speed in that area, he possesses a brave front so we’ve absolutely no problem at all with him getting the job done.”
The Munster coach admitted that O’Leary’s injury cast a pall over the squad over the weekend and that he would be in their thoughts for the rest of the week and the season. That said, someone has to fill O’Leary’s slot in the Lions and the delay in naming a replacement until next week at the earliest heightens the belief that it may be between Peter Stringer and Mike Blair.
“Anything is possible, looking at where Keith Earls and Alan Quinlan have come from, with no real time in the Six Nations with Ireland, both have progressed to the Lions jersey through good performances with Munster. If we play well enough on Saturday and Peter is part of that he has as good a chance as the other contenders,” said McGahan.
The aggregate 40-5 scoreline in the two Munster league wins underline Munster’s favouritism but as the Munster coach conceded, Leinster missed kickable penalties early on in both games which could have altered the way things panned out. Besides which, this is a semi-final, and three years ago it was Leinster who were deemed marginal favourites.
“Coming into this game, we’ve been carrying the fact we’re seen as favourites from outside the squad for most of the season so it certainly doesn’t have any affect on us. We don’t wear any tag whatsoever. It’s other people putting that on us. We have no control over it,” added McGahan.
Throw in the utter uniqueness of a Croke Park sell-out between friends and foes, and above all else this will be “a special occasion, a once-off”.
McGahan smiled ruefully when asked if such weeks were too stressful to be enjoyed. Such is the life and weighty responsibility of a coach. “It’s always stressful. I suppose with these games, the build-up that you have from a couple of weeks out certainly presents itself with a wonderful feeling if you get the result for a good maybe 24 hours and then the agony of defeat which would never leave. We certainly know the prize at the end of it on Saturday. We’ll enjoy it when the game is over hopefully.”
Munster went into the momentous semi-final clash of three years ago with a vastly greater wealth of big-game experience, having been in 15 Heineken Cup knockout matches (including two finals) over the previous eight seasons, as against five for Leinster. Accordingly, they appeared to handle the pressure much better that day but, as McGahan conceded, this time around it would appear both sides are better equipped to cope.
“We’ve moved on a little bit since then. We’ve been lucky enough to have success in two Heineken Cups and also the players being three years down the track have experienced a lot more things. The management have too. The whole place has grown.
“Leinster are the same, they’ve been in four of the last five knockout stages of the Heineken Cup. They’ve got a Magners League title, they’ve got Grand Slam winners. Both organisations and teams have moved on in experience and playing personnel.”
While Leinster’s 6-5 win in Harlequins showed another side to their character, whereas Munster earned nothing but bouquets for the thrilling nature of their quarter-final win over the Ospreys, when arguably no sub-test team in the world would have lived with them, McGahan also maintained Leinster “still possess the cutting edge that has certainly been a very strong part of their rugby play.
“Obviously they have evolved over the last few years under Michael’s stewardship, especially with their forward play. I think they show a lot more patience now and they have the opportunity to play the game in many different facets.”
