BEST ROARS BOK
Skipper fit to face South African test
RORY BEST is set to be available for Ireland’s November series after Joe Schmidt’s skipper played 18 minutes off the bench for Ulster in France yesterday.
The hooker injured his hamstring last month in training. However, his return at La Rochelle has sparked optimism he will lead out Joe Schmidt’s team to face South Africa in Dublin in 19 days’ time.
Ulster’s 17-41 defeat denied all three of Ireland’s Champions Cup provinces from harvesting an unbeaten start in the opening two rounds for the first time since 2001/02.
But Best’s return rounded off a positive weekend for the Ireland boss after he saw outhalf Johnny Sexton shrug off a recent dead leg and play a pivotal part in Leinster’s Saturday win at Glasgow.
Pool 3 leaders Leinster, one of just three Champions Cup teams on maximum points, are expected to dominate Schmidt’s squad selection this week for a series that also features matches against Argentina and Fiji.
With injured pair Jared Payne and Garry Ringrose already out of the midfield reckoning, Robbie Henshaw took another step at Glasgow towards securing the Test No13 shirt in a possible partnership with Stuart McCloskey who carried well despite Ulster’s five-try capitulation.
In the other games, Munster beat Racing 14-7 on an emotional night in Limerick, and Connacht beat Worcester.
LONG after the famed Thomond Park crucible had emptied out and the natives departed satisfied into the stormy Saturday night, it was left to a softspoken Ronan O’Gara to best sum up the captivating, poignant spectacle that unfolded earlier in the Limerick wind and rain.
The Corkman has been coaching in France for four and a half seasons, but the Munster way he was so central to forging during his playing pomp has never been forgotten.
This experience has left him best-placed to run the rule over a tremendously-fought Champions Cup encounter which ended with his visiting Racing retreating, beaten and bullied, and plotting revenge for when these two meet again in January.
‘We broke. We cracked first. That is what happened,’ said O’Gara, a disconsolate hand nestling on his jaw as he relived a no-frills humdinger that was remarkably scoreless for 61 minutes before the French critically blinked first. ‘Incessant pressure. That is what it is all about. Pressure.
‘That [work rate] has to be the basic level that you expect from Munster. That is their strength. They have such passion and desire to play for each other, and that is the basic ingredient of Munster rugby.
‘The lads really care about each other. They care about their families and playing for the public. It’s a fantastic place to play. That is a basic requirement now when you put on the jersey, so that does not surprise me one bit.
‘It’s cup rugby and we have to prepare for every game the way the Irish provinces prepare for Europe.
‘That is where they excel at. They peak for these games, especially their home ones. It’s a fantastic competition.’
With greasy conditions dictating an old-school, up-the-jumper style, Saturday was like old times at Thomond. Munster’s naked determination to frustrate Racing up front was reminiscent of how they planned destruction of every opposition when they were Europe’s most dominant force.
An illusion was created that Racing were by far the bigger team, but Rassie Erasmus’s smokescreen perspective didn’t stand up to scrutiny when comparing respective starting packs man-on-man.
Munster weren’t short of height while they also had seven heavier players out of the eight.
Even where they lost out in weight, the excellent Dave Kilcoyne taking on tighthead rivals Ben Tameifeuna and sub Census Johnston at a respective 33 and 18kg disadvantage, the Munster scrum didn’t yield, milking a threeto-one penalty success from referee JP Doyle at the set-piece.
That bruised French egos and while Racing admittedly did a number on an ineffective Munster lineout, they couldn’t make this dominance tell.
Rhys Marshall, the 25-year-old Kiwi making his first European start, seldom appeared comfortable with his throw, so frequent was the lack of clean Munster possession, and the issue didn’t improve when debut-making replacement Kevin O’Byrne was tossed into the maelstrom. His first of three throws required rescue by out-half Ian Keatley and his third, aimed at Peter O’Mahony, was stolen.
It was as if Donnacha Ryan, the injured, gnarled tactician snapped up in the summer by Racing, had schooled his new colleagues in how to disrupt and destroy.
However, the grand irony of this was how the 14-7 result in Munster’s favour boiled down to one final throw, a Racing lineout that Baptiste Chouzenoux failed to grasp five metres out as his jump suffered a mid-air wobble that went unsanctioned by Doyle.
Munster’s recent weeks of costly double-digit indiscipline had given way to far better behaviour for much of the exhaustive contest. Just three penalties were conceded in a first half where Racing infringed a half-dozen times in the opening 19 minutes.
By the time they jumped 14 points clear on 70 minutes — Conor Murray charging down Maxime Machenaud and Andrew Conway squeezing in at the corner for tries converted by Keatley, who should have also nailed a penalty kick from in front of the posts — the naughty step count was 11-5 against the visitors.
But Munster then struggled with their clutch of inexperienced forwards now involved, coughing up four infringements and a converted try to set up a gripping finish to a match where their overall gutsy display was perfect tribute to late head coach Anthony Foley in the week of the first anniversary of his death.
‘There is something special about Irish rugby when it comes to cup rugby,’ reflected Keatley. ‘It’s in our blood all the way coming up as schools is all cup rugby.’
That education served Munster well on Saturday.
That work rate has to be the basic level you expect from Munster