Alan Quinlan's match was Munster's latest epic in microcosm. At the end, he was last off the pitch, still gleaming and chatting to his parents as Declan Kidney ushered Quinlan into the dressing-room, aware of their hasty departure from Castres to Toulouse airport. From villain to hero, in truth Quinlan was probably more relieved than anyone.
About 50 minutes earlier such a happy ending had seemed remote, when Quinlan had been sent to the sin-bin as Munster trailed 20-9, after attempting to dislodge Mauricio Reggiardo from ruck ball long after Castres' abrasive Argentinian prop had been penalised for killing the ball.
"I probably should have walked away from it," admits a still contrite Quinlan. "He was holding onto the ball on the ground, and I tried to pull the man by the jersey. But he made a bit of a screech and the referee called me aside, thinking I had grabbed him by the face. It was disappointing, but I don't want to sound like I'm blaming the referee. The bottom line is I shouldn't have been there."
The 10 minutes, he admits, felt like an eternity, his frustration partially relieved by his 14 team-mates rolling up their sleeves in characteristic fashion. (Later they would chide Quinlan that his sin-binning was the turning point of the match, and in a curious way it possibly was). Thereafter Quinlan looked like a man on a mission. "I did want to redeem myself and make it up to the team a little bit." It helped too that Gregor Townsend was seemingly intent on picking out Quinlan with every safety first long restart. "I was getting fed up with it," he jokes now, but the flanker ran the ball back vigorously every time. Quinlan also stole a couple of Castres line-outs and made several trademark surges, as when setting up the ruck for Anthony Horgan's 75th minute try, and then returning another Townsend restart in the build-up to Ronan O'Gara's stunning match-winner.
All in all, one of those mighty Quinlan displays in the second-half, coming after his Man of the Match effort against Newport the previous week (when the slag was that Foley's untypical matching headgear had ensured Quinlan of double the credit). Perhaps, like Frankie Sheahan, Quinlan feels he has more to prove than his team-mates this season. In any event, those stirring, kneepumping, head down, straight-running surges, curiously rare last season, have returned with a vengeance.
"I'm happy enough with it," he says of his form, before immediately lapsing into dutiful team-talk. "Overall, the team played really well. When we play well together as a team like that, we all look really good players. Everyone did a lot of good things and it's easy when we play at a high tempo like that."
The brash, impatient youngster whose irreverent attitude and vocal approach quickly earned him the moniker Cheeky at virtually his first senior Shannon training session is intent on becoming a more selfless individual. Whereas three years ago, when he first burst into Munster's European Cup campaign with a string of high profile displays, now he wants a more low-key profile.
"There's been a few ups and downs since then. Things didn't go as well as I hoped at times," he says, before adding that that's all in the past, and he just wants to concentrate on playing well for Munster. No more shouting from the rooftops. "I used to put too much pressure on myself by setting goals to get onto teams and things like that, and I perhaps became a little distracted." There's clearly the stamp of Kidney and O'Donovan at work here, though in a sense it's a shame, for although he was also a bit of a voluble rogue, Quinlan was likeable with it too. Damnit, this more careful and less carefree Quinlan is a tad duller, but his desire to temper his profile has also come with a desire to temper his infamous temper. "I can be a bit fiery at times. It's in the blood. I need to concentrate on my discipline a bit better at times. But I'm not into dirty play, whereas in the past I could be a bit too aggressive in rucks. I've tried hard to discipline myself."
Injury having disrupted his ambitions of a place in the original World Cup squad, his one cap came as a replacement in the World Cup win over Romania a year ago. "I found the pace very sharp but my preparation wasn't ideal. I was only brought into the squad on a Wednesday and the match was on a Friday night. It all happened very quickly. I didn't have time to adjust my mind to the situation." A bigger blow was assuredly losing his Munster place for the semi-final and final, his more hushed tones a clear sign of the hurt. "Having played in all six pool games it was very disappointing to lose my place. But that's the way it goes. You have your ups and downs. A few years ago I mightn't have taken a situation like that too well."
The blow was softened in that his great mate Eddie Halvey displaced him, though the jibe that Quinlan had advised Halvey to depart to London Irish is wide of the mark. "I actually told him the opposite. I thought he should have stayed, for Shannon's sake as well."
Be that as it may, he has made the most of his second chance, and the rejuvenated Quinlan now takes the cliched game-at-a-time approach, unwilling to look beyond Bath this Saturday. "They're a formidable side, down the years one of the strongest sides in England for as long as I've been watching rugby across the water. They're a club with a lot of talent, and we'll have to play really well to beat them."
A few years older and few years wiser, he's clearly happier talking about this game and the Munster collective than himself. "I used to believe a lot of the stuff that was written about me and I possibly took a few things for granted." Not now. "I enjoy playing rugby. This is a great chance for me and a great place to be."
