Munster aim to end semi-final misery
Such is the mythology that surrounds Thomond Park that it is hard to resist the temptation to ascribe this hellacious quarter-final victory, as head coach Johann van Graan momentarily did, to another dose of “Munster magic”.
Certainly, Toulon will believe that the gods – or in this case referee Nigel Owens and his television match official Jon Mason – conspired against them in virtually every big call. On 99 per cent of occasions, Francois Trinh-duc’s clearing kick with five minutes left would have made touch and that might have been that. Instead, Andrew Conway plucked the ball from an improbable angle and used it as a dagger to slice apart Toulon hearts.
Yet to suggest that this victory was preordained would do a huge disservice to the volume of preparation and planning Munster put into the game, missing six key playracing including their first-choice midfield. In their place, Sam Arnold and Rory Scannell did what few other centres have managed, by smothering Mathieu Bastareaud and Ma’a Nonu, a combined 225kg and 148-cap partnership.
“I said, ‘Life works out the way it should, and you two in the 12 and 13 Munster jerseys, I don’t want anything special, just do what you normally do,’ and I thought they were incredible,” Van Graan said. “That defence, I’ll have to watch the game tonight when I get home. What can I say? Special.”
They were far from the only heroes in red. Second-row pairing Billy Holland and Jean Kleyn set a ferocious tempo in defence. The replacement front row turned the tide at the scrum while Toulon were systematically picked apart at the lineout by Peter O’mahony.
“It takes a lot of work to be able to put in a performance like that,” O’mahony said. “And there was a lot of technical stuff that was done extremely well.”
And of course there was Conway. A shooting star in his youth, Conway has struggled to make good on his initial promise at Leinster and the 26-year-old was only just back in the side after 10 weeks out through injury. “He’s one of the guys who regularly says, ‘I just want the ball’,” Van Graan said. “It’s interesting the way rugby games work out, the ball went to him and it will go down as one of the all-time great plays of Munster.”
Now they must repeat the trick in the semi-final against Racing 92 in Bordeaux. It is 10 years since Munster were European champions and seven since they won silverware of any kind. If Conway’s heroics are to be remembered as anything more than a footnote in their folklore then Munster must snap a run of five semi-final defeats without the Thomond Park factor.
“We need to be right, we need to be in the right frame of mind,” O’mahony said. “That was probably our best performance of the year, certainly defensively. And if we want to win the semi-final, it’s going to have to be a step up again.
“Guys have to have the ability to recover and play once, if not twice, over the next couple of weeks and then get themselves mentally, physically and emotionally ready for the next biggest game of their career.”