RUGBY: Brive v MunsterWAR METAPHORS, rolled out when describing epic rugby collisions, lose a little resonance after the strange intermingling at Shannon airport early yesterday morning. A smaller than usual battalion of the Red Army not only shared the lounge area with their beloved players but with troops from a US Airbourne Division on a stopover from a genuine war zone.
“Going out or coming home?” I asked a young soldier. “Home to Philadelphia for two weeks! Easter RR.” He looked about 16. “Hey, sir,” he continued, “why are all these people dressed in red with stags on their breast?”
I nodded over to John Hayes, Tony Buckley, David Wallace and a purple-eyed Ronan O’Gara as they surrounded former team-mate-turned-pundit Frankie Sheahan. “That is the Munster rugby team.” He nodded. “Ireland’s version of the Eagles offensive line.” The comparison registers. Google will educate him.
Our conversation is interrupted. “Gate. 1. 4. Please” – 200 or so soldiers rise as one. In a fortnight these troops will return to some hellish environment that, again, makes the cauldron Munster enter today seem far less intimidating. Munster have come through tougher combat deep in French rugby country than this afternoon’s challenge. Granted, they were younger then. Their hunger will be tested today.
Until recently Brive were a club in disarray with the players supposedly turning on coach Ugo Mola, a man well versed in this fixture from his playing days with Castres.
The ship has been steadied of late, with an encouraging defeat in Toulouse (22-23) followed by wins over Bourgoin (50-6) and La Rochelle (26-9) to ease relegation fears. Also, the investigation by the Direction Nationale D’Aide et de Controle de Gestion (DNACG), the Top 14’s financial watchdog, into their need to use budget reserves has not, as yet, led to a points deduction. However, a player exodus is coming this summer. French internationals Alexis Pallisson (Toulon) and Fabrice Estebanez (Racing Metro) imminent departure increases the importance of finding a route into the Heineken Cup next season to entice fresh talent.
The financial value of an English invasion to this small town for the semi-final is not lost on the locals. They must also sense the opportunity to fell a Munster side shorn of their great leader, Paul O’Connell, much like Toulon did when denying them qualification from their Heineken pool.
Mick O’Driscoll returns to run the lineout. The other changes from last weekend see Denis Leamy rewarded for his physical impact against Leinster ahead of Donnacha Ryan, while the catapult that is Sam Tuitupou starts alongside captain O’Gara with Lifeimi Mafi going to outside centre and Johne Murphy dropping to the bench. After a frustrating run of injuries, Felix Jones has done enough recently to be trusted by coach Tony McGahan to cement his role at fullback.
The Seapoint RFC man is sure to be tested. It being a French team at home they will also be unable to resist pitting themselves against the might of the Munster eight ensuring the finicky interpretations by Dave Pearson during Ireland’s Six Nations defeat to France will surely have been digested.
Mola has switched Mathieu Belie from scrumhalf to outhalf and Scott Spedding goes to fullback. Every row of the pack has also been altered but the main ball carriers, South Africans Antonie Claassen and Gerhard Vosloo are retained and some grizzled reinforcements are promised in the second half.
It peaked at 27 degrees Celsius in Brive around kick-off time yesterday so more of the same is expected leaving perfect conditions for expansive rugby. That is when the heat insists the forwards stop busting into each other.
Brive will shoot from the hip, meaning a Munster win will require at least a couple of tries before O’Gara can guide them home. But they have won under a searing French sun before and against better French opposition at that. It should stand to them.
BRIVE: S Spedding; G Namy, J Noon, F Estebanez, A Palisson; M Belie, A Figuerola; D Kinchagishvili, B Cabello, P Cardinali; T Dubarry, R Uys; G Vosloo, A Claassen, J Le Devedec. Replacements: J-P Bonrepaux, V Kakovin, P Barnard, A Mela, S Azoulai, F Domingo, S Perry, R Lespinas.
MUNSTER: F Jones; D Howlett, L Mafi, S Tuitupou, K Earls; R O'Gara (capt), C Murray; W du Preez, D Varley, T Buckley; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; D Leamy, D Wallace, J Coughlan. Replacements: M Sherry, M Horan, J Hayes, D Ryan, N Ronan, P Stringer, P Warwick, J Murphy.
Referee: D Pearson (England).
Betting: Brive 7/4, Munster 4/9, Draw 20/1.
Verdict: Munster to win.
