ON RUGBY: It's debateable as to which would have been a tougher proposition for Munster - Leicester or Llanelli - and even allowing for the alternative of Welsh side on Cardiff soil, quite probably it is the Tigers. But at least beating the reigning European champions and four-time English champions would leave absolutely no room for argument. Put another way therefore, it may be the tougher route to the holy grail, but it would be the more satisfying, writes Gerry Thornley.
Llanelli's luck certainly hasn't overflowed in the Heineken Cup, but however they got there, Leicester probably produced what little rugby was played in Sunday's second semi-final and just about deserved to win. Most likely Leicester will play better in the final also.
An interested observer was Declan Kidney. "It was a fairly physical, tough, hard game," he reflected yesterday, pointing out that "the two teams obviously knew each other very well. Leicester took a hammering from Llanelli in many ways and it wasn't the real Leicester. Yet they came through again, so what does that tell you about them?"
As spectacles neither semi-final would have been particularly absorbing for the neutral, but then again isn't that so often the way with one-off semi-finals in any sport. On top of which, both semi-finals were re-runs of earlier pool meetings, ensuring that each was a third clash of the campaign. Teams have only met three times in one campaign thrice before, Brive running into Pontypridd and Bath three times in the 1997-98 Cup, and Ulster beating Toulouse in the quarter-finals the next season after earlier meetings at the group stages. Yet, by comparison, Munster and Leicester have never met so far.
Already even the Irish bookies have installed Leicester as favourites, with Paddy Powers making them three-point favourites on the handicap and 8/11 to win over 80 minutes as against 5/4 for Munster.
As it's the mighty and supposedly near invincible Leicester, one could well imagine English bookies and pundits all over Europe making them hot favourites and Munster cast in the roll of underdogs, obliged to take a leaf out of the Llanelli, Harlequins and Wasps manual by defending in the Tigers' faces and taking them on at their own game by competing fiercely at the breakdown. That even has a nice smell to it. Munster would seem tailor-made for the role.
There's no better spoiler at the breakdown than Neil Back while on Sunday Leicester were repeatedly penalised for bridging by Dave McHugh. Leicester have built up quite a reputation for themselves in many ways, prompting Chris Hewitt in the London Independent to write: "If the excellent McHugh refereed them every week, England's other Premiership clubs would make a far better fist of challenging for some domestic silverware."
Certainly you have to wonder why Dean Richards publicly called for a referee from the southern hemisphere. If nothing else, it is something of an affront to European referees.
That Leicester are the English champions and reigning European champions will galvanise both Munster players and supporters alike. Indeed, given the repetitiveness with which Celtics of the world unite, then it's likely that the chunk of 'neutral' Welshmen in the Millennium Stadium might also side with the red-wearing Munstermen, all the more so after Llanelli were 'robbed' in Nottingham.
The hype and intensity in the build-up might even exceed the relative innocence of Munster's odyssey to Twickenham two seasons ago. After all, take the relevant semi-finals as a yardstick. In Bordeaux two seasons ago the Red Army numbered an estimated 3-4,000; on Saturday it was in the 8-10,000 bracket.
They'll again play a part, for as Bernard Laporte commented on Saturday in Beziers: "Leicester is a very good team and maybe it is 50-50 for the final. But with this public it is very difficult for the other team."
In some respects though, Leicester will invariably have the better build-up. They carry on as normal, from week to week, beginning with their concluding league games away to Bristol and at home to London Irish over the next two weekends followed by the quarter-final play-offs.
An English squad will get together for a game against the Barbarians on Sunday May 26th - the day after the Euro final. Hence, it's unlikely any of the Leicester players will be involved in that, all the more so as the likes of Martin Johnson, Neil Back and Austin Healy will not be required on England's short tour to Argentina in June.
By comparison, Munster get together for only one day this week (tomorrow) due to the AIB league final on Saturday between Constitution and Shannon, then prepare for a final interprovincial away to Ulster on May 10th, before the bulk of them hook up for three days of Irish sessions from May 12th.
The Munster Brains Trust will, as ever, just have to make do with whatever hand is dealt them, and at least have the experience of a final two years ago, as well as three semi-finals to call upon. They've been there, done that and bought the Euro t-shirt.
The phenomenon that is Mick Galwey leads the way, Saturday having constituted a 44th Cup appearance for the ever-present 36-year-old, as he easily endured the 80-plus minutes in the hot sunny south west of France despite relative inactivity in the weeks beforehand. "Sure it's a young man's game," quipped the eternally youthful one, but in truth is it any surprise that a Munster side with over 400 European Cup appearances stayed cooler than a Castres side with less than half that?
They have a good idea by now of what works and what doesn't and have plenty of good luck charms to call upon. While putting Paul O'Connell through a fitness test on Friday morning in Montpellier, Kidney was holding a tackle bag which O'Connell ploughed into, and in the process knocked a cap off one of Kidney's teeth. Well, that was one way of proving his fitness. And perhaps O'Connell will do the same in Cardiff.
gthornley@irish-times.ie
