European Cup Quarter-final: Leicester - 7 Munster - 20 Revenge is a dish best served piping hot, better still in the opposition's kitchen. As compelling and unyielding as they've ever been on their travels, Munster exacted a huge chunk of retribution for their fateful defeat in last year's Heineken European Cup final by shredding Leicester's dreams of three-in-a-row in a Welford Road that fairly hummed and throbbed all afternoon.
This ranks right up there. From the first whistle they never took a backward inch. It was they who applied the pressure, more like the home team, and Leicester simply cracked amid a welter of mistakes that they normally wouldn't make in a month or two of home games. It could be said that the holders didn't play well. More to the point, they weren't let.
Munster shredded the Leicester lineout, and generally stood firm in the scrums. For this and much else, the generally unheralded Frankie Sheahan deserves mention for a magnificent match. Marcus Horan and John Hayes, too, but as with all Munster's finest efforts, it was a complete team effort. No weak links in the chain.
Leicester were up to their usual shenanigans before the match, Rod Kafer being withdrawn with an injury "sustained in the pre-match warm-up", the same injury, no doubt, that made him doubtful for the game all week. Freddy Tuilangi, not listed amongst the replacements until minutes beforehand, was named at inside centre.
The kick-off was delayed by 10 minutes, supposedly due to congestion outside, though word had filtered through the press box almost an hour beforehand that it would be delayed because the rugby league on BBC was over-running. An extra 10 minutes of pre-match tension neither dressing room really needed.
Both teams seemed as nervous as kittens in a new house. Penalties were rashly conceded, both of the Munster second-row tyros being culpable, and basic handling errors proliferated - with no-one more culpable than Austin Healey.
You gotta go claw-to-claw with the Tigers in their own lair, and the pressure Munster exerted on the home side was unremittingly intense - particularly up front and at lineout time. Launching at least two "pods" at a time, Alan Quinlan, Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan contested every throw, many of them wayward, by Dorian West.
Leicester lost six of their 14 throws before the break, and nine out of 24 all told, whereas Munster safely held nine of their 11.
Setting the tone, Quinlan nicked the first throw in the prelude to Ronan O'Gara nailing the first penalty from the half-way line after two minutes. Amazingly, the scoreboard wouldn't be decorated for the remainder of the half, yet it was compelling stuff from first to last. Such was the capricious nature of the wind that Tim Stimpson missed three out of three - two of them kickable - and O'Gara one from under the posts.
The only blemishes were the restart receptions, which admittedly came with snow on them from Geordan Murphy, and the concession of penalties at scrum time. Furthermore, with Leicester so edgy and error-prone, and Munster having chances as well as territory - most notably when O'Gara cut through but took the tackle rather than offload to Mike Mullins - a 3-0 interval lead could have been more.
The feeling was reaffirmed when O'Gara's penalty came back off the post after another O'Connell steal and Kay's late hit on Henderson. But O'Gara landed his next effort to double the lead, and Healey seemed to be completely losing it when steering a drop goal wide, whereupon Stimpson was wide with his fourth penalty attempt.
Leicester, clearly worried, rang the changes. Stoppages proliferated in the savage exchanges, though at least they afforded some breathers, if also resulting in nine minutes' injury time.
Cometh the hour though. When Mullins ran back another Leicester handling error, Munster couldn't get numbers to the ruck, Leicester went wide, and wide again. Cue Murphy - he beat Henderson's tackle to put Steve Booth over.
Stimpson converted, Leicester were ahead, but Munster came back immediately. Henderson, perhaps furious with himself, took out his frustration with a monstrous hit on Healey. Healey's legs wobbled like a prize fighter's, but he refused to go off.
Ruthlessly, Munster targeted him, Henderson linking with Foley and then Quinlan through that channel. Sheahan took it up, Marcus Horan pumped his legs with a magnificent charge and from the recycle O'Gara dummied and dipped for the line. That took cojones, and he nailed the difficult conversion as well.
Another seven minutes and another try. From a scrum, O'Gara ran onto Stringer's flat pass, making a half-break and an offload off the deck to the supporting Henderson, who carried it on, as did Mullins, then inside to Quinlan, and Stringer was on hand to take the final offload and narrow the conversion angle.
Nigel Williams, strong, neutral and excellent, could have played 20 minutes' injury time for all the difference it would have made. The biter was bit when the Munster pack launched a stupendous maul as the Leicester pack were scattered to the deck.
Martin Johnson was penalised for punching, and O'Gara gleefully kicked the penalty out of the ground. Cue celebrations, and soon there wasn't a tiger in sight.
SCORING SEQUENCE
3 mins: O'Gara pen 0-3; 53 mins O'Gara pen 0-6; 61 mins: Booth try, Stimpson con 7-6; 67 mins: O'Gara try and con 7-13; 74 mins: Stringer try, O'Gara con 7-20.
LEICESTER: T Stimpson; G Murphy, L Lloyd, F Tuilangi, S Booth; A Healey, T Tierney; P Freshwater, D West, D Garforth, M Johnson (capt), B Kay, M Corry, W Johnson, N Back. Replacements: A Balding for W Johnson (49 mins), H Ellis for Tierney (57 mins), H Kronfeld for Kay (61 mins), S Vesty for Healey (68 mins), G Chuter for West (84 mins), G Gelderbloom for Tuilangi (84 mins).
MUNSTER: J Staunton; J Kelly, M Mullins, R Henderson, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, J Williams, A Foley, A Quinlan. Replacements: J Holland for Henderson (79 mins), M O'Driscoll for O'Connell (89 mins).
Referee: N Williams (Wales).
