7th April 2013
Harlequins 12
Munster 18
When the final games
in the group stage of the Heineken Cup took place back in January, and when
Munster secured a home bonus point win against Racing Metro, supporters were
relieved that the men in red had scraped through to the quarter finals as the
eight and final seed. They would therefore
be paired away to Harlequins in the quarter finals of the competition. Harlequins had cruised through their group,
finished top seeds overall and the popular view was that Rob Penney’s men would
be very much up against it.
I always felt however
that this was probably the best draw that Munster could have got considering
their final seeding. Better anyway than
a trip to France to face the heavyweights Clermont Auvergne or Toulon in their
own hostile backyard. And looking at
Harlequins group campaign, all respect to Biarritz, Connacht and Zebre, but
would the competitiveness of this group stand up to scrutiny?
On this basis I booked
my flights to London with a tinge of excitement in my stomach and a belief that
this could be another one of Munster’s many great away days. Kerry airport to London Stanstead with good
old Ryanair. Alas, it was too much to
expect that all would run smoothly. A
month before the due date of flight an e-mail came through that the flight out
to London had been put back by 4 hours.
Instead of getting in to Stanstead at 7pm we would now be getting in at
11pm. And then the long journey in to
London itself. Great!!
The search for tickets
to the game started as slowly as a James Reilly speech on health reform. Yet again tickets would be as scarce as hens
teeth they said. Funny then that they
began to surface at a rate of knots on the week of the game. Thanks to my own contacts I was set and
raring to go.
However, my confidence
was seriously dented when, aside from Munster’s patchy Rabo Pro 12 form coming
up to it, they were massacred by Glasgow in Scotstown a week previously and any
lingering hopes of snatching a place in the play offs of the Rabo Pro 12 were
evaporated. Crumbs of comfort were
dispatched that historically Munster’s league form was always poor in the week
leading in to a big Heineken Cup knock out game. As much as I wanted to believe it, my resolve
was being tested.
Getting over the
change in the time of the flight, Kerry Airport is an experience in
itself. What more does one need than the
bar being feet from the security checks and a coffee dock and airport shop a
further few feet the other side in the boarding area. The flight itself was uneventful but the
landing was as subtle as the North Koreans and their nuclear weapon
testing! And boy was it cold in London.
We made our way to
Richmond and checked in to hear of the try fest in Adams Park where Ian Madigan
and co had put Wasps to the sword. Would
there be a sting in the tail for Ulster and Munster or could they fly the Irish
flag for the remainder of the weekend.
After an early start
on Saturday, and of course after a wholesome breakfast, well a full English, it
was time to get in the mood for the big game ahead. What better way than another look at the
famous 1973 Barbarians v’s All Blacks game at Cardiff Arms Park. Gareth Edwards sublime 2nd minute
try is worth looking at over and over again.
What started with Phil Bennett retreating towards his own posts, 2
sidesteps later and through the hands of John Williams, Derek Quinnell and
Edwards was diving over in the corner.
And what about the commentary and the famous words “What can touch a man
like that?” and “If the greatest writer of the written word would have written
that story, nobody would have believed it”.
They were the good old days. No
reset scrums, tap penalties and wingers throwing in to lineouts. Maybe the IRB should take a look once more,
particularly when it comes to the drawn out affair that scrum time has become
today.
Contented with my
rugby fix it was now time to fulfil the tourist duties in a city with so many
landmarks to take in. Knightsbridge,
Harrods, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Kew
Gardens, it was tourist central with the queues as long as those outside a dole
office on a Thursday morning.
Not a bad days work,
and after dinner, next on the agenda was the Chiswick Moran Hotel where a
Munster Q & A session was taking place sponsored by the Munster Supporters
Club in London. In attendance were coach
Rob Penney, injured skipper Doug Howlett, second row Billy Holland and winger
Johne Murphy. The answers given by the
players themselves raised many a laugh in the packed attendance but there was a
hushed silence when the mic was given over to coach Penney himself. Forthright answers were given to questions on
CJ Stander’s omission from the Heineken Cup Squad, Peter Stringer’s request for
first team rugby and Penney’s much debated game plan and how Munster fans are
not used of having lock forwards hogging the touchline waiting for the ball to
be sprayed out to them. Once over there
was a rousing reception for the coach and players as they departed to their
rooms and prepared themselves for the following days action. There was still time however for coach
Anthony Foley to mingle with the crowd and down a few pints of the black stuff.
The Caggage Patch pub
in Twickenham was the meeting point for all Munster supporters on the day of
the game. With the Gods looking down,
the sun shone and the atmosphere was very jovial as fans reminisced on previous
great away trips and how the men in red would perform. Having been well watered we headed off on the
short trip to the Twickenham Stoop. In the
shadows of the Twickenham Stadium, the Stoop was a very well laid out ground
itself, with easy access and with even a playground on the walk to the
ground. A great day out for all the
family!
The roar that greeted
both teams as they ran on to the pitch was electrifying. It was a perfect day for rugby with no wind
to disrupt matters. Munster started off
tentatively and when they were penalised at the first scrum, kiwi Nick Evans
gave the home side the lead. Munster
responded immediately, and after good work by Tommy O’Donnell from the restart,
Quins were penalised but O’Gara’s effort came back off the upright and a let
off for the home side.
Munster were dominant
in the lineout but once more their scrum was under pressure and they were
penalised again in the 14th min but fortunately Evans shanked his
kick and the score remained 3-0.
However, he made amends shortly after when the visitors were penalised
for not releasing and the lead was pushed out to 6-0.
O’Connell’s lineout
work and overall leadership was the standout feature of the game now, and with
Munster doing good work on the ground, especially through Tommy O’Donnell, O’Gara’s
radar was on the mark in the 26th minute to reduce the deficit to
6-3. Evans responded after Munster were
penalised at scrum time once more and they should have possibly extended the
lead further but scrum half Danny Care was a bit over enthusiastic with a quick
penalty and he was penalised for holding on.
O’Connell’s brilliant juggling impersonation gave Munster the
opportunity to reduce the deficit before the half time break and O’Gara made no
mistake to leave the score 9-6 in favour of the home side.
On chatting to other
fans during the half time break the general view was that Munster had done very
well to quell the expected explosive start from the home side and as the half
went on it looked like they were getting the measure of the home side. A try by either side in the second half could
be the difference particularly if the kicking duel between Evans and O’Gara
continued. Was a victory for the Quins
mascot over his Munster counterpart during the half time break a sign of things
to come?
Munster’s power play
in the first ten minutes of the second half was probably the winning of the
game. The drive and desire to win was
epitomised no more than by Peter O’Mahoney during that phase of the game and
particularly his steal from the clutches of Quins second row George Robson on
their own lineout. Quickfire penalties
by O’Gara in the 42nd, 45th and 47th minutes
saw Munster leap in to a 15-9 lead and the home side were clearly rattled.
The men in red now
went for the jugular and after great work by Downey on one side, Lualala was
unlucky that his final pass did not go to hand with the try line yawning. They continued to pressurise the home side however
and were rewarded once more in the 57th min when O’Gara extended
their lead to 18-9 with a further penalty.
The home fans
rendition of the Mighty Quin were becoming few and far between at this juncture
as they were being drowned out by the substantial Munster following and the
Fields of Athenry and Stand Up and Fight in full voice. Evans reduced the deficit with a further
penalty in the 68th minute after Quins first clean line break of the
second half and the score now stood with Munster ahead by 18-12.
Try as Quins might
they could not get either the territory or the field position in the final ten
minutes that would give them the opportunity of a converted try to pull this
game out of the fire. Due to a
combination of Munster working their choke tackle efficiently and an almost
manic desire that their season was not going to end here, they withstood all
that Quins could throw at them and Conor Murray gleefully kicked to touch and
the mighty men in red had done it.
O’Connell’s excellence
is almost taken for granted but he was a very deserving Man of the Match. Tommy O Donnell was also instrumental at nullifying
Quins at source and James Downey was very effective, his brick wall tackle on a
scampering Mike Brown in the second half a standout feature.
We retreated to the
Cabbage Patch where the joyous Munster fans basked in another great away day
victory. How we have been spoiled with
these! We discussed the winning and losing of the game in the William Webb
Ellis pub with a group of Quins fans and they even bought us a round of sambuka
for our troubles! Maybe they weren’t being so generous after all!! It is
onwards now to a semi final meeting with raging favourites Clermont Auvergne in
the semi finals in the sunny south of France in Montpellier. As Paul O’Connell said in his post match
interview Clermont will be delighted to be meeting Munster and not
Harlequins. We have been here
before. The mind games have begun. Who’s taking the horse to France?
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