MUNSTER ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
THE Heineken Cup continued to be rugby’s major success story throughout the noughties and one of the key narratives was always the crusade being undertaken by Munster and their incredible travelling army of fans. After a slow start it gathered momentum until it seemed there was no force in Europe that could stop them and that duly happened in the second half of the decade with famous wins in 2006 and 2008.
Toulouse and the top English clubs invariably started as favourites, but Munster refused to yield to the odds and were always the other team to keep an eye on. Their long unbeaten record at Thomond Park meant they were likely to emerge victorious from their Pool and after that anything could happen.
The Red Army were always on parade – 18 trips to France alone – before their side finally claimed the trophy in 2006 and were on first name terms with many hoteliers around the continent.
The inconvenience of not having a match ticket rarely troubled the fans. One Friday afternoon before a game at Gloucester three of the fans had a wander around an unsuspecting Kingsholm and disappeared into one of the loos where they slept the night. When a steward found them the following morning they poured on the charm and in no time were being treated to breakfast.
They became hardy and canny travellers and that came into play for the big final against Biarritz in Cardiff in 2006 when the vast majority of the 50,000+ fans – only half had tickets – had arranged to travel by ferry from Cork to South Wales on the Friday and Saturday morning. Unfortunately the mother of all storms blew up and all the ferries were cancelled.
But there was no stopping them. Last minute flights were booked from Cork to regional destinations from which they could travel on to
Cardiff – Teeside, Bournemouth, Southampton, Nottingham and even far flung Jersey – while hundreds made the ten hour drive to Belfast to pick up flights there. The Berlin air-lift of sport.
The vast majority made it and were well rewarded with tries from South African wing Trevor Halstead and Peter Stringer, plus the boot of Ronan O’Gara, seeing them home 23-19 despite the shock of a second minute score from giant Fiji wing Sireli Bobo for Biarritz.
Two years later they repeated the exercise with a 16-13 win over Toulouse in the final, the last time they tasted success. The Red Army still marches with the same passion though, they are not finished yet.
The halcyon years – Munster and the Red Army on the march in Europe
1995: Play their first Heineken Cup game, defeating Swansea 17-13 at Thomond Park.
1996: Hammered 60-19 away to Toulouse. Things have got to change, Munster have to get fit for purpose for professional rugby.
1997: Finish bottom of their pool won by Quins but win their two games at Thomond. Their home defeat to Cardif was at Musgrave Park.
1999: Reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Lose to Colomiers at Stade Michel Bendichou.
2000: Historic win over Toulouse in the semi-finals in Bordeaux but slip to disappointing defeat by Northampton in Twickenham final.
2001: Lose semi-final to Stade Francais
16-15 after referee Chris White denies them a perfectly legal try by wing John O’Neill.
2002: Munster feel they were robbed in the final against Leicester when Neil Back illegally uses a hand to win a scrum ball against the head on the Leicester line.
2003: Lose semi-final to Toulouse 13-12 having reached quarter-finals after ‘miracle’ 33-6 pool win over Gloucester at Thomond Park.
2004: Lose epic semi-final to Wasps in Dublin 37-32, still hailed as the
Heineken Cup’s greatest match ever.
2005: Biarritz scrum-half Dimitiri Yachvilli kicks 14 points as Munster lose the quarter-final to Biarritz 19-10 in San Sebastian.
2006: Defeat Biarritz to win the final, their 76th Heineken Cup match. Anthony Foley plays in all but one of those 76 games.
2007: Lose 27-15 to Llanelli in the quarter-finals at Stradey Park.
2008: Beat Toulouse 16-13 in another epic final at the Millennium Stadium.