HEINEKEN CUP SEMI-FINAL/Biarritz 18 Munster 7:FOR MUCH of the first half at any rate, Biarritz looked there for the taking and a vintage Munster probably would have taken them. But they were physically beaten up, primarily in the tight five, and their scrum and lineout was virtually obliterated in a manner one cannot recall for years. Eventually this had to take an inevitable and unmerciful toll, and it duly did.
Biarritz rarely looked like scoring a try, whereas their defence looked porous and unsure for much of the game but ultimately for Munster to prevail would have been akin to a loaves-and-fishes job. Despite deservedly drawing first blood with the game’s only try, they lost a half a dozen scrums and half a dozen of their own lineouts. Despite some heroic performances by the likes of Jerry Flannery and Alan Quinlan, they simply had no platform to play.
Out of the French championship, and with their season resting on the Heineken Cup, Biarritz remain a very good cup team and nobody epitomised their desire more than Imanol Harinordoquy. The sight of him in a somewhat hideous looking mask to protect his recently broken nose was enough invitation for Munster to drive him back. To the number eight’s credit, he was cut in half by Denis Hurley approaching half-time and, pole-axed and treated by the physio about four or five times, he continued to show his class with what seemed like a broken rib until he bade a reluctant adieu in the 66th minute after an astonishing restart take.
Though well acquainted with San Sebastian, Biarritz looked as nervous as kittens in a new home in an edgy, error-strewn start, and Munster weren’t much better. The ball must have been slippy but amid the plethora of knock-ons by the home side and two kicks out on the full by Dimitri Yachvili and Ian Balshaw, Munster couldn’t establish a foothold, especially on their scrums where they effectively lost three of their first five. The two they won were both penalties for Biarritz whipping the scrum around, which showed how much they were targeting this area.
Denis Hurley lined up on the right wing and Lifeimi Mafi on the left, though in defence Mafi switched to midfield with Keith Earls on the left wing, perhaps to counter the flying Takudzwa Ngwenya, who was targeted unmercifully in the air by Ronan O’Gara. A frisson of excitement went through the Basque hordes whenever Ngwenya touched the ball, but when he stepped around David Wallace, Earls was on hand to bundle him into touch.
Biarritz looked shapeless and vulnerable when they turned over the ball, and they were hopelessly out-manned when Benoit August emptied Jean de Villiers from what seemed a mile or two offside. Then, when the decidedly ill-at-ease Balshaw committed the seventh Biarritz handling error of the first 20 minutes, Tomás O’Leary skip passed to Jerry Flannery who showed real turn of foot in a 50-yard run before his hard, flat one-handed offload was dropped by O’Gara with the line beckoning.
This threat finally yielded a dividend when Munster once more kept their shape as Biarritz laboriously went through phases, de Villiers ripping the ball from Ayoola Erinle for Donncha O’Callaghan to set off on one of his long-striding gallops. Critically, Alan Quinlan was in support and off the recycle good hands by O’Leary, Wallace and particularly James Coughlan put Earls over for O’Gara to land a good conversion.
Munster had a reprieve when Mick O’Driscoll and Denis Hurley did enough to bundle August into touch just shy of the line off a cleverly worked front of a lineout move. But after Dave Pearson and touchjudge Stuart Terheege somehow missed Magnus Lund illegally kicking scrum ball from under Coughlan’s feet, their next scrum buckled once more for Yachvili to open the home account.
Terheege’s bleated first intervention was even more damaging, as he spotted Flannery sliding in low and late on Carmichael Hunt – who had been pretty nondescript at outhalf – and instead of Biarritz defending a lineout close to their line Yachvili made it a one-point game with a 45-metre penalty.
A De Villiers break through the middle reminded us how vulnerable Biarritz could look but Munster were increasingly reduced to living off scraps and it also said something about their set-pieces that O’Gara opted for a failed 55 metre shot at goal (when maybe he should have given it to Paul Warwick) and O’Leary tapped a penalty on halfway.
But when Warwick dared to counter from inside his own 22 he was ensnared by Trevor Hall’s tap tackle and when O’Leary was penalised for going off his feet Yachvili pushed Biarritz ahead. The game was virtually up and as Munster resorted to more and more desperate attempts at catch-up rugby Yachvili tagged on another three penalties.
Scoring sequence: 28 mins: Earls try, O’Gara con 0-7; 39: Yachvili pen 3-7; (half-time 3-7); 44: Yachvili pen 6-7; 66: Yachvili pen 9-7; 72: Yachvili pen 12-7; 77: Yachvili pen 15-7; 80: Yachvili pen 18-7.
BIARRITZ OLYMPIQUE PAYS BASQUE: I Balshaw; T Ngwenya, A Mignardi, A Erinle, J Gobelet; K Hunt, D Yachvili; E Coetzee, B August, C Johnstone, J Thion capt, T Hall, M Lund, W Lauret, I Harinordoquy. Replacements _ M Carizza for Hall (2-5 mins and 67 mins), J Peyrelongue for Erinle (48 mins), F Barcella for Coetzee (60 mins), F Faure for Harinordoquy (66 mins), R Terrain for August (77 mins). Not used: R Hugues, V Courrent, P Bidabe.
MUNSTER: P Warwick, D Hurley, K Earls, J de Villiers, L Mafi; R OGara Capt, T OLeary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D OCallaghan, M ODriscoll, A Quinlan, D Wallace, J Coughlan. Replacements:_ T Buckley for Hayes (57 mins), N Williams for Coughlan (63 mins), N Ronan for Quinlan (71 mins), J Brugnaut for Horan (72 mins), P Stringer for O’Leary (74 mins). Not used: D Varley, T Gleeson.
Referee: Dave Pearson (England).
