Munster’s dogfight win worth its weight in gold

IMPRESSIVE and all as it was it didn’t exactly get the blood flowing now did it? You could sit and admire it – and there was, of course, a certain ferocity to it – but at the end of it all you were left to feel a little hollow.

Big European nights are supposed to be about more than this. The legend was born of scrapes and miracles. Feats of derring-do achieved against the odds. David versus Golliath stuff. The little guy taking on all comers.

To win by twenty three points in a display of crushing dominance is something else entirely. Satisfying? Certainly yeah, if you’re into that sort of thing (and I’m told a lot of people are!). Welcome? Absolutely, it strengthened Munster’s position in Pool 4 considerably.

As a piece of sporting theatre, however, it was lacking. It takes two to tango and Leicester left their dancing shoes behind them in Welford Road. It was just a little too easy for Munster, which, of course, wasn’t remotely their fault.

Johann van Graan’s men did what they had to do and they did it with a ruthless efficiency that caught Leicester cold. Munster beat what was in front of them as the saying goes. They could do no more.

Still – and maybe this is a little counter intuitive – the comprehensive nature of the victory served almost to undermine its value. Munster didn’t get the dues which were rightfully theirs because Leicester didn’t make them sweat for it.

The same can’t be said of last weekend’s victory in Welford Road. There was a couple of times when it looked as though the hosts would maintain their fearsome unbeaten record and maintain their proud record of never having been beaten in both of these back-to-back European Cup contests.

Last Sunday evening’s contest was everything that the previous Saturday’s wasn’t. Where one was bloodless, the other was a blood and thunder affair. Nip and tuck and in the balance right until near enough the final moments.

That Munster came out the right side of it only serves to underline the progress they continue to make. After this victory, Munster’s credentials have been enhanced in a way that they never could have been by an easy home win (no matter the pedigree of the deposed opposition).

This time around Leicester showed up and Munster still bested them. This time Leicester showed up and Munster were still the superior team on view. This time Leicester started well and Munster still had the wherewithal to bounce back.

Matthew Tait’s try inside the opening ten minutes of the match had the potential to set the tone for what was to follow. Munster knew all about Leicester’s unbeaten record, they knew all about their ability to turn these back-to-back games around and it didn’t faze them. Not one little bit.

Instead of Leicester – and their vociferous home support – dictating terms, Munster calmly and methodically reasserted themselves. Ian Keatley was the key man as the red army began to make inroads on the Welford Road battlefield. Keatley’s kicking was close to inch perfect at times and even when it wasn’t it didn’t seem to affect him. You couldn’t have said that of the Keatley of old. Back then it was as if he cared too much. With Ronan O’Gara in retirement, uneasy was the head which wore the crown. On Sunday evening Keatley made two uncharacteristic mistakes with the boot – he kicked once out on the full and in the second half missed a penalty – and carried on regardless. His confidence held firm, he continued to kick metronomically thereafter.

He was cool, calm and collected. Just as his team were when things threatened to go against them. About the only rash thing a Munster player did all evening was when John Ryan – mere moments after being introduced as a sub – picked up a yellow card for slapping the ball out of Ben Youngs hands in the ruck in front of the posts.

Munster’s response over the following ten minutes was quite magnificent.

They hardly allowed Leicester a sniff of it and – aside from George Ford’s penalty in the immediate aftermath – held the Tigers scoreless over the following ten minutes. No damage done and with Ryan back on the pitch van Graan’s men pushed on for home. A brilliant victory, achieved against in the head in an absolutely cracking game. This, to us at least, was more like it. This was the type of game that made us all fall in love with Munster and the European Cup.

It didn’t hurt either that it came against the old enemy or that it came at the end of a clean sweep – over two weekends – for the Irish clubs against English opposition in the competition. All in all not a bad way to round out the year for Munster and Irish rugby. Roll on 2018.

Damian Stack

looks at some of the stories making backpage news over the past seven days