Munster fall short again after Racing hold off late rally
Phew! Another five minutes and any of those Munster miracle comeback stories might have been consigned to dust, trumped by the most extraordinary tale of them all as the Irish province scored three tries in the closing 16 minutes to shred Racing’s nerves.
Munster appeared dead and buried at half-time, 24-3 adrift. But they rolled back the stone to rise from the seeming dead to almost pull off the impossible, never mind the improbable. But the clock, and the scoreboard, always favoured the Parisians.
In truth, Munster were gallant, but never of champion calibre, masters of rearguard, catch-up play, but horribly slipshod with poor skill levels in the first half.
Racing ought not to have been so troubled. Applaud Munster guts, but the right teams are in the final.
As with Scarlets in Dublin, so with Munster in Bordeaux, where their prospects of making it an allireland occasion in Bilbao on May 12 looked to be wilting as fast as an ice cream would in the scorching heat, the supposedly full-bore semi-final contests reduced to alsoran status before half-time in both matches.
Then Munster reached deep within and found, if not fluency, then at least defiance. Salvage rugby became something else entirely, as the Irish side preyed on Racing insecurities, complacency and fatigue to hit hard with that trio of tries. It was spirited if ultimately doomed. No wonder they were saluted by the red-clad faithful at the final whistle, beaten (and by more than the scoreboard indicates), but not bowed.
This, though, was Munster’s sixth successive semi-final defeat in this competition, the Tottenham Hotspur of rugby. “I’m tired of learning lessons, tired of losing semi-finals,” said a deflated Munster captain, Peter O’mahony. “We got beaten up in the first 30 minutes.”
In truth, Racing had been so dominant, so imperious, so overwhelming it was little surprise that they did switch off. It was a stroll in the Stade Chaban-delmas.
At teatime on Saturday, Leinster looked nailed-on favourites. By the 22nd minute here, Racing wing Teddy Thomas, as red hot as the mercury in the thermometer, had two tries in the bag and was able to afford to give his hat-trick score to Maxime Machenaud, lobbing the ball to him when over the try-line.
Nonchalance? Arrogance? Neither, just the exuberance of a wonderful talent, exiled by the national team for indiscretions, but the most compelling sight in world rugby when he hits the accelerator.
Surely the final will see Racing engage throughout and sustain that impressive power-play game. If they do, the final promises to hit the marks that it is supposed to reach, as a head-to-head of ferocity.
Leinster have terrific capabilities all over the field but, if Racing do bring their full game with them to the Basque country, then they will have to be at their very best in defence as well as attack at San Mames Stadium to prevail.
Racing have always thrived on their dilettante Parisian image, content in the knowledge that, with the likes of the scheming Machenaud and pilfering flanker Yannick Nyanga, as well as the mighty Virimi Vakatawa in the centre, they have a full complement of skilful but also hard-nut players.
And that is before we get to Dan Carter, the garlanded former All Black, whose relish for the fray in his final weeks with Racing before heading to Japan was epitomised with two give-’em-nowt tackles on Simon Zebo then Rory Scannell within three minutes of his appearance from the bench after the 56th minute.
Thomas did as he did in the Natwest Six Nations with slashing runs for his tries, stepping and slicing with Munster bystanders as he scooted to the line, passing up on his third to the surprise of Machenaud, who was merely tracking play. Munster were a pale imitation of what a semi-final opponent ought to be. Their attack was ragged, desperate at times, with balls chucked on the floor or flung straight into touch. Even their vaunted line-out was off-kilter.
The second half looked as if it might follow suit with Conor Murray fortunate to escape more severe censure after an early scuffle with Racing wing Marc Andreu.
Machenaud, though, did kick the penalty to extend his side’s advantage. Cue Racing’s dozy period. Cue Munster’s upturn in fortunes, triggered by the arrival of a man who will be in Racing colours next season, Zebo, who scored 20 minutes after coming on, only moments after Andreu had been sin-binned.
Munster took full advantage with Rhys Marshall driven over, before Andrew Conway stubbed on a kick through from Zebo in the last minute to touch down.
“We played as we dreamed in the first 40, but we need the full 80 against Leinster,” said Racing coach Laurent Labit. Quite.