Diarmuid O'Flynn
READING the runes (or should that be reading the ruins?) from what happened in Thomond Park Friday night, are Munster now very much the second-best team in Ireland?
Though Paul O'Connell was a major loss, and the raw physicality of Denis Leamy is sorely missed, Munster still had a very strong 15 on view, were as near as dammit to full strength.
Anyway, Leinster can point to the fact that they were without Brian O'Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald and Shane Horgan – considerable assets, wouldn't you say, to any backline?
On the last two occasions on which the sides met, Leinster were clearly the better team, a superiority that was also very clearly reflected on the final scorelines. But that was then, and that was Dublin – this is now, and this was Thomond Park, where Munster have been unbeaten all season in both Magners League and Heineken Cup, and where Leinster haven't won since 1995, the true advent of professionalism.
Well, on Friday evening, and though on this occasion Munster put up a far better fight, Leinster were again the victors, and Leinster were again clearly the better side.
You could argue against that, point to the fact that had Munster retained the ball through just one or two more phases in their final attack on the Leinster 22 they might even have won, a drop-goal from the on-fire Ronan O'Gara almost a certainty had they managed to get into position; and of course that’s true.
But had that happened, had Munster won, it would have been a travesty. There was only one try scored on the night – Leinster; there were several other near-misses - all Leinster; there were only two missed kicks at goal – both Leinster. Hard to argue against any of that, isn't it? On the evidence, then, it would have to be accepted – as it stands this week, Leinster aren’t just the kingpins in Europe, they are the masters of Munster.
So, as the men in red face into a Heineken Cup quarter-final this coming Saturday, are they in trouble? Whoa! Hold on there lads – not so fast. The fact is, Leinster ARE the best team in Europe, have shown themselves capable of digging out results in rugby fortresses other than Thomond Park. Another couple of facts; much of the damage suffered by Munster in this loss was self-inflicted – penalties, dropped balls, poor decisions in possession. All of that can be sorted in a week, can certainly be improved on. Another encouraging sign; for many years the Munster scrum has been maligned by critics near and far, and as often as not those criticisms were unfair, ill-informed. This season, however, there HAVE been problems, real problems, and against Leinster, Munster were coming up against a genuine force in that arena. Not alone did they hold their own, Munster absolutely blasted Leinster on several occasions, the returning Marcus Horan doing a magnificent job on the loosehead side, John Hayes and Tony Buckley doing likewise at tighthead, Jerry Flannery superb between them, while in the lineout – another strong area for Munster – Jerry’s darts were absolutely spot-on. Going up against Northampton, a renowned scrummaging pack, that’s all really positive.
“Lessons to be learned,” said a crestfallen Donncha O'Callaghan afterwards; “No point in feeling sorry for ourselves or moping all week,” was a mantra he shared with David Wallace and the aforementioned Jerry Flannery.
Well, yes, we all agree on that, no point in beating yourself up over it. But, and here’s the rub – no point in beating yourself either. Hopefully lessons WILL be learned; without question this is still a hugely rugby-talented Munster squad, but in losing their discipline, in being forced into poor decision-making, they’ve been losing the mind-games. Time to straighten up.
