Munster’s Peter O’Mahony continued his tireless onslaught of the Sale defence throughout the match last Saturday. Picture: INPHO.
THE fear was real enough. There was a spell, coming up to half-time in Munster’s game against Sale on Saturday evening, when the men in red looked like they were going to come off on the wrong side of a thrashing from a rather unfancied Sale Sharks side. And the thought crossed my mind, this could be curtains in Europe for the men in red, and early too.
As a committed sunshine-supporter of Munster rugby there is nothing more disheartening then seeing the chance for some decent bandwagon-hopping rile-up before you and stampede off before there’s even a proper chance of a single blast of the Fields of Athenry.
It’s been a fear for a while now to be frank. The Rob Penney era promised a lot and delivered a couple of Heineken Cup semi-finals in France in the past two seasons is proof that Munster cannot be written off.
Saturday’s game re-inforced that to a degree but for a while now, my belief in Munster’s ability to create miracles has been lacking.
That grain of hope, buried way down in the subconscious, that no matter what goes against them they’ll find a way to dig out a result.
Sure there are flashes of it still, the gritty resolve not to give up that lead against Leinster a couple of weeks back showed that Munster still have plenty of fight in them. But that was against Leinster and the Reds always get themselves up for a game against them.
There was also the flair shown in last season’s quarter-final demolition of Toulouse showing that there is skill behind all their brawn. But those miracles matches like that of 2003 against Gloucester appeared to have become a scarce commodity.
Saturday’s game, while looking dead and buried at the break, was, of course, perfect for the miracle.
The rather cumbersomely named European Rugby Champions Cup, is now so tightly structured that early victories may well prove more valuable than ties later on in the group when the destiny of qualification will be more clear-cut. Therefore, defeat in this early pool game may have killed Munster’s European ambitions at birth.
The combination of this, a Paul O’Connell half-time speech or a dirty stare from Foley caused something to click in the minds of the Munster men and they came out, not really possessed, but resolved to do the unbelievable.
Ian Keatley rightly garnered the plaudits for his amazing drop-goal on 80+ minutes. Filling Ronan O’Gara’s boots was always going to be a tough task but if he keeps taking those drop-goals it won’t be long before he’ll be getting the kind of devotion saved for ROG.
Not bad for a Dub.
Across the team there were some epic second-half performances. Conor Murray’s crisp handling was at its usual exemplary best. Denis Hurley continues to put in mountains of work in the centre despite playing out of position, while another man unfamiliar to the role, JJ Hanrahan continues to grow in stature in the middle. His cross-field kick, late in the game, from just outside the Munster 22 travelled 60 metres and bounced out perfectly just shy of the Sale 10 metre-line to give Munster the platform they built upon to set up the drop-goal winner.
It also shows that Hanrahan’s fly-half pedigree could prove to be a vital weapon from the centre of Munster’s attacks in the future.
But it was the forwards that really did the business again.
As is the case with many sides, but nearly always with Munster, if the forwards get on their game than the team are on their game. The work put in to make the scrums rock-steady and the intelligence shown in the line-outs by James Cronin and Dave Foley proves that the good old days of the prop being only required to fall over facing the right way is long gone. They were on their toes throughout, taking positions to set-up attacks or disrupt the opposition. This is so vital for the attack in the modern game but so often goes unnoticed.
Hooker Duncan Casey recorded 100% accuracy in his line-out throws, often allowing Tommy O’Donnell and BJ Botha bind for the maul before the ball had even been brought down from the air.
CJ Stander did some supreme work getting over the gain-line and when he wasn’t carrying he was clearing out the opponents allowing Murray the space and time to get the ball moving again.
Then, of course, there’s Paul O’Connell.
The warhorse still has so much to offer. Not content just to tell you about savings on your electricity bill, he can somehow conjure-up the trick of turning an opposition maul on its head and swing it to the advantage Munster.
Standing upright in the middle of maul he takes the type of hits that would dent a JCB, yet like the digger, he continues to grasp out at the ball handler with his massive claw, never letting the opponent relax on the ball or time to set up the next phase.
Even if he can’t reach his man he will verbally challenge the situation or call on reinforcements to key areas he will even bellow at the ref to make the opposition use the ball. It’s was a masterclass only surpassed, in my opinion, by Peter O’Mahony.
At just 25 years of age it’s amazing the influence the Corkman is now having from the back-row.
Against Sale, he collected clean ball from the line-out throughout and from there he would become the fulcrum of the Munster’s amazing mauls.
Steering them left or right, this way and that, while his broad back took the blows from the frustrated Sharks was critical to Munster’s second-half revival.
But the maul he engineered on 78 minutes that rolled the Sale defence back over 10 metres was a stunning piece of work and must have been crushing to the defenders’ morale. From that point on Sale were on the back-foot and did not regain possession until Keatley put it over the bar.
Despite all those gut-busting mauls, O’Mahony was also on hand in the offensive part of the field to make some crucial breaks over the gain line.
While obviously out on his feet late on, he didn’t shirk his responsibility at any time and must have been an inspiration to the backs in the set-up providing the width that eventually allowed Keatley the room in the middle to pop it over the bar.
Overall, it was a thoroughly amazing effort in the second half .
That it only lasted a half long makes one still worry for what they will face from a Saracens side who should be significantly superior in all areas to Sale.
For those of us hanging on at the back of the bandwagon there may be a few bumps along the road yet.
But as long as Munster can hold their form as well as that fan held on to his pint of Heineken while he ecstatically celebrated Keatley’s winner, then we might be alright.
