February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The stakes were typically high at Thomond Park last week. Not just the simple matter of qualification, and the rewards both on and off the pitch that come with it, but there was also the niggling matter of Munster’s credibility generated by recent surprise defeats by Connacht and Ulster.
Even if the English club, Sale, were pretty abysmal, that issue and a few others were emphatically answered by Munster’s 37-14 win.
Munster ruled the breakdown, forcing a series of key turnovers, and while there were moments of class behind the scrum from Ronan O’Gara, Keith Earls and Doug Howlett, this ruthless performance marked a return to basics.
Paul O’Connell carried magnificently, so too did the outstanding David Wallace who is playing the best rugby of his career, and overall, the home forwards engaged Sale around the fringes with enough ferocity and control to wear them down.
There were six tries in all from O’Connell, Jerry Flannery, Wallace, Ian Dowling, Tomas O’Leary and Paul Warwick, and such was the winners’ dominance that O’Gara could afford to have an off-night with the boot as he only landed two conversions.
Victory with a bonus point in the final pool game in France against Montauban on Saturday would bring Munster up to 23 points, but it might still not be enough to guarantee the luxury of a home quarter-final.
Equally, Montauban, will relish a pop at the European champions in front of their own supporters. “The game is massive, they’re a really good side, we saw that in our first game, so it’s going to be a tough week for us,” said O’Connell. “We’ve got to go away from home and produce another performance.”
Against a backdrop of suggestions that the new Thomond Park might no longer be the impenetrable citadel of old, O’Connell explained that one critical element of the build-up was about the players not being over-reliant on their home support.
“We put a lot of ourselves into this week, a lot of talk about Thomond Park. Players who have performed here were just proud to put on the jersey. The crowd are fabulous, but they don’t do anything for you on the pitch, you have to do it yourself. It can’t be a passion play every week, but we filled the jersey well.”
Leinster might have lost out to London Wasps by 19-12 at Twickenham, but a losing bonus point keeps them bang in contention for qualification for the knockout stages. If they beat Edinburgh with a bonus point at the RDS on Sunday, then they are sure of going through no matter what happens elsewhere. If they fail to secure a bonus point, they could lose out if Wasps win with a bonus point in Castres.
All Leinster can realistically hope for now is a place in the quarter-finals as they chance of a home fixture has all but evaporated. Equally, they have injury worries over Leo Cullen, CJ van der Linde and Stan Wright, while Malcolm O’Kelly could be suspended following an incident when he stamped on the head of the Wasps and England prop, Phil Vickery.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Edinburgh beat Leinster,” said Vickery, while Leinster coach, Michael Cheika, summed up the situation: “To be sure of ourselves, we need a bonus point win. We’ve got to go and earn it.”
Although Ulster are out of contention, they still managed a confidence-boosting 21-10 win over Harlequins in Belfast with the emerging Darren Cave and captain, Rory Best, scoring the all-important tries.
Meanwhile, in the European Challenge Cup, Connacht were crushed 75-5 at London Irish, but could still qualify for the quarter-finals with a win over French side Dax in Galway on Friday.