European Cup Pool Five: Munster 19 Wasps 3:All is not yet well with Irish rugby, but where there's Munster, there is not only hope but vibrant life. In systematically dismantling the defending champions, the men in red can rarely have played with more fire in their bellies or more clinical control and discipline in their heads. In the circumstances and the conditions, they could not have played much better.
Heroes truly did abound, from one to 15 really. This was one of those compelling team efforts where, as Ronan O'Gara subsequently noted, the whole is even greater than the sum of Munster's parts. And they have some parts too, all of them in working order here.
Donncha O'Callaghan was like a man possessed, and in tandem with Mick O'Driscoll, who set the tone from the first kick-off reception and augmented his aerial skills with as physical a performance as he can ever have put in for his province, destroyed the Wasps lineout.
On a rain-sodden day such as this, driven mauls off lineouts were always liable to be one of the game's staples, but rather than stay on the ground and counter them, Munster had done their homework and went after the Raphaël Ibañez throw. They took six of his first 11, including one by O'Callaghan against George Skivington when Wasps went to the corner at 3-6 down nearing the end of the first half - admittedly when the giant Simon Shaw was in the bin.
The game will be remembered for the rain and mud in which it was played, the dubious contention being that it suited Munster.
While the absence of Ricky Flutey and Paul Sackey left the Wasps' back line with a callow look (save for Josh Lewsey), something Peter Stringer and O'Gara sought to exploit by peppering their young wings David Doherty and Dominic Waldouck, in reality their pack was at its most gnarled and grizzled - indeed superior to Munster's, according to their head coach, Ian McGeechan.
Not on this day they weren't. Wasps often countered the Munster maul effectively, though put little or no pressure on the Jerry Flannery throw. There were always going to be plenty of loose, wild skirmishes as well as plenty of close-in collisions, with the proverbial bar of soap squirting around the pitch, and here it was Wasps who were under constant, swarming attack.
Munster snaffled nearly everything on the deck, Anthony Foley - playing as if to the manner born, which he is - and the immense Denis Leamy coming up repeatedly with massive plays. David Wallace was at his barnstorming best, carrying the ball better than any forward on the pitch and thereby eclipsing James Haskell, while their clearing out at ruck time was a tacit lesson in the art.
Not that Wasps had any soft touches, least of all the 20-year-old Danny Cipriani at outhalf. Helped by the variation of Eoin Reddan's game and his pass, like all class players, Cipriani always seemed to have time and space; Munster could not get near him. He landed his early, 40-metre, penalty with aplomb and thereafter kicked superbly.
But once they had withstood an ominously strong start by Wasps, Lawrence Dallaglio seemingly set on leaving an indelible imprint on the game before ultimately becoming too wound up, and O'Gara had cancelled out an early Cipriani penalty when Fraser Waters - Wasps' defensive organiser - was yards ahead of the hindmost foot in midfield, there was an irrepressible force about this Munster effort.
Admittedly, Wasps still came probing - their renowned think tank had clearly done their homework too - regularly exploiting the blind side as Doug Howlett faced a wave of runners coming at him on the short side. Reddan having beautifully dummied O'Gara for Waters to give Doherty a run, kick and chase up the line, it was O'Gara who made the vital, covering clearance.
This was one of the key moments of the match, and O'Gara was central to most of them. Probing Munster's blindside led to Leamy being binned, but as is Munster's wont, that, coupled with the scrap that preceded it when a bloodied Flannery took exception to Ibañez's use of the boot, galvanised them.
They saw out that 10 minutes with a three-point profit. Stringer has rarely taken on so much kicking responsibility, Waldouck missing another probing box kick, and the scrumhalf's alert quick tap to David Wallace yielded the yellow card for Shaw and the additional 10 metres for O'Gara to kick them in front.
A banana kick with the outside of his right boot by O'Gara, another box kick by Stringer and another fumble by Waldouck were the prelude to Foley's charge, a couple of quick taps as the pack scented feeding time,
Wasps using every trick in the book to minimise the damage to a further, superb O'Gara penalty with the last kick of the half from an acute angle.
Munster ratcheted things up another notch or two after the resumption, O'Driscoll forcing a turnover with a big hit on Lewsey and stealing another throw at the front either side of Foley snaffling a turnover on the deck as O'Gara continued to go through his peerless repertoire.
A clever lineout move using Foley's soft hands, and rumbles by Leamy, Marcus Horan and O'Driscoll led to Dallaglio playing the pantomime villain with a yellow card, which the crowd enjoyed even more than O'Gara's fourth penalty.
Despite one of Shaun Payne's trademark high takes through traffic on the run, Rua Tipoki turning the screw with his boot and a big hit by O'Callaghan on Reddan, Wasps were far from cowed when Dallaglio rejoined the fray. The threat of them picking up a bonus point and the only try remained a theoretical possibility, albeit in what now looked like Munster's vice-like grip and even though, unbeknownst to many, Clermont's bonus-point win in Llanelli was making a win of any hue sufficient for Munster. If, however, you had been fortunate to come here often enough, you could sense the near inevitability of what happened next.
Going through 22 phases seemed like Munster were just choking the last breath out of Wasps' brave challenge, whereupon O'Gara showed, broke the Wasps line and fed Leamy to step inside the last man and score.
It was a fitting finale, a one-try-to-nil thrashing in the mud courtesy of remorseless control up front and a touch of class by the brilliant number 10 at the peak of his powers.
Cue The Fields. Munster could breathe easily now. Another job clinically executed. Another one to tell the grandchildren about.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: Cipriani 0-3; 12: O'Gara pen 3-3; 37: O'Gara pen 6-3; 40(+7): O'Gara pen 9-3 (half-time 9-3); 54: O'Gara pen 12-3; 74: Leamy try, O'Gara con 19-3.
MUNSTER: S Payne; B Carney, R Tipoki, L Mafi, D Howlett; R O'Gara (capt), P Stringer; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; D Leamy, D Wallace, A Foley. Replacements: A Quinlan for Foley (77 mins), F Sheahan for Flannery (84 mins). Not used: T Buckley, D Ryan, T O'Leary, P Warwick, K Lewis. Sinbinned: Leamy (23 mins).
LONDON WASPS: J Lewsey; D Doherty, F Waters, R Hoadley, D Waldouck; D Cipriani, E Reddan; T Payne, R Ibañez, P Vickery; S Shaw, G Skivington; J Haskell, T Rees, L Dallaglio (capt). Replacements: T Palmer for Shaw (45 mins), R Webber for Rees (61 mins), J Ward for Ibañez (77 mins), T French for Payne (82 mins). Not used: J Hart, M McMillan, D Walder. Sinbinned: Shaw (35 mins), Dallaglio (54 mins).
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales).
