HEINEKEN CUP POOL THREE: Munster 28 London Irish 14:A PLACE IN the Amlin Cup secured, another expedition to France to look forward to, but more importantly, a sense of pride restored after the previous week's fall from grace in Toulon.
That, at least, was the viewpoint from the Munster camp following their bonus-point victory over London Irish, a win which sets them up for a trip to Brive/La Rochelle next April in Europe’s subsidiary competition.
By then, memories of their fruitless Heineken Cup bid may be less afflictive, but for now they remain a salted wound, and partial atonement was the order of the day for Tony McGahan as the curtain came down at Thomond Park.
“We were playing for our lives, really,” said the slightly beleaguered coach. “We’re playing at home with a tremendous record, which has been gained over a long period of time with a lot of guts, spirit and passion. We certainly weren’t ready to give that up.
“The next stage was always about today, 80 minutes, and trying to get some, though not all, redemption from last week.”
Redemption at one stage looked anything but likely as Seilala Mapusua and Sailosi Tagicakibau both crossed for second-half tries, cancelling out Damien Varley’s opener to leave the Exiles leading 14-7 with time winding down.
Cue Munster’s best 10 minutes of the season. Aided by a yellow card to Jamie Gibson, the province upped the ante for the final 10 minutes, registering tries through Niall Ronan, Keith Earls and Darragh Hurley during a frenetic endgame.
“We were in a small bit of a hole,” admitted captain Denis Leamy. “We played a lot of the rugby and found ourselves seven points behind. But I think we were confident that we could get back down there, get field position and up the intensity.”
Though Munster’s overall performance was underwhelming, the character displayed in the face of adversity was commendable, especially give the week that was in it.
Undoubtedly, media criticism hit home with many of the players, though as explained by Mick O’Driscoll, the most cutting review was conducted in-house.
“With due respect to everyone here and outside of here, there’s a lot of stuff been said about us but what’s been said inside the four walls of our changing room is as harsh as you’ll get anywhere,” said the veteran secondrow.
“Fellas say their piece, fellas listen. We know we’ve underperformed this season. We’ve no major issue with people saying that. For us, we’re looking forward, we’re trying to improve things. We believe it’s certain, small little areas that we need to improve on. You saw in the last 20 minutes there what we can do once we get back into the swing of things.”
Though not roundly endorsed by players or management, the Amlin Cup will afford plenty of opportunity for rebirth and generation, though it remains to be seen whether Munster use it as a spawning pool for development, or as an opportunity to salvage some European silverware.
Should they go on to lift the trophy in May Connacht would gain automatic entry to next seasons’ Heineken Cup, whilst there is also the issue of increased revenue to consider, as well as European ranking points.
As correctly asserted by London Irish coach Toby Booth, however, ranking points don’t always guarantee an easy draw, as was evident by the makeup of pool three this season. When asked whether the ERC needed to re-evaluate their current methods of pool seeding, however, Booth was unable to offer a better alternative. “I think the seeding is a good idea, because you do want to make sure that historical aspects are at least considered. I think it’s actually the fairest system that there is, if I’m honest.”
MUNSTER:J Murphy (S Deasy 61,); D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, D Hurley; R O'Gara, T O'Leary (P Stringer 67); W du Preez (D Hurley 71), D Varley (M Sherry 71), J Hayes (T Buckley 41,); M O'Driscoll (D O'Callaghan 62), P O'Connell; D Wallace (J Coughlan 69), N Ronan, D Leamy (capt).
LONDON IRISH: T Ojo; A Thompstone, E Seveali'i, S Mapusua [capt], S Tagicakibau; D Bowden (R Lamb 62), D Allinson (P Hodgson 75); A Corbisiero 7 (D Murphy 75), J Buckland, F Rautenbach (P Ion 57); N Kennedy (K Roche 78), M Garvey; G Stowers (P Ion 18-12) (R Thorpe 57), J Gibson, C Hala'ufia. Yellow cards: F Rautenbach, J Gibson.
Referee:Peter Allan (Scotland)
