Munster go back to basics

The Cork skies rained in buckets, the ball squirmed and ricocheted at times like something out of an old black and white television re-run, Musgrave Park retained its rather quaint and rustic charms, and Munster went back to basics in sticking it up their jumpers and mauling Colomiers off the pitch.

Reflecting on it all the Colomiers co-coach Jean-Philippe Cariat described it as "a funny weekend" in an old-fashioned sort of way, "because of the long, long trip on Friday, because of the stadium, because of the weather, and because of the changing-room."

Nor, did he mention, that on this sodden day of all days, the showers weren't working in the Musgrave Park dressing-room, necessitating a trip by coach to the Colomiers team hotel. "It was all like a trip in the past," he added dryly.

Transferring this theme to the actual match, Cariat observed: "The conditions were quite difficult for us. Munster adapted to them better than we did, perhaps because they are used to playing in these kind of conditions."

Here though, Cariat was getting a little carried away with old cliches and perceptions of Irish and Munster rugby. In point of fact, while Munster did indeed adapt better to the conditions, there's a strong argument for believing they might have won more handily on a dryer day, and the nature of the performance and the win palpably gave them little satisfaction.

As a Corkman, Declan Kidney appreciated the irony in the fact that the conditions were markedly similar to the much celebrated win over Perepignan in Musgrave Park last season. "There wasn't quite as much water on the pitch this time but it still made anything constructive difficult. I suppose the pleasing thing is that the conditions didn't suit us, and we still managed to get the three tries.

"It was a good, man-like performance in the way that they had to knuckle down. The forwards had to keep it tight and the backs had to be patient, and overall a good team try at the end of the match."

Always reluctant to count his chickens, even though Munster can now enjoy their turkeys more than most with four wins under their belts, even so Kidney revealed that his thoughts were advancing beyond mere qualification and toward a home quarter-final courtesy of a top four ranking.

"If we beat Saracens, obviously we will qualify but depending on how the other matches (in the other pools) work out it's possible that that would not alone qualify us but give us a home quarter-final.

Kidney made light of Colomiers' opening third minute try by winger Patrick Martinez, following an ominously impressive bout of continuity when Munster didn't get their tackles in low, early or hard enough. "I'd rather concede one with 77 minutes left than with three minutes left." Indeed, it possibly served to give Munster an early wake-up call. Colomiers, living offside with impunity, were able to stifle anything ambitious by Munster for much of the ensuing comeback.

So, after Ronan O'Gara had opened their account with a penalty for offside, the line-out cum maul yielded the first of two tries for keith Wood and another O'Gara penalty when Colomiers came around the fringes of another maul.

As a means of victory, it didn't particular give Munsters much satisfaction, O'Gara later giving a long diatribe about how it was more a game for the forwards than the backs, while equally Jeremy Staunton's grim post-match demeanour would have been more fitting in the losing dressing-room.

"It was just a case of having to," shrugged Kidney with regard to the mauling tactics. "Any time we let the ball out of a maul, was it a slow release or was it a case of them being on the line, and we couldn't let the ball out? Any time we did we seemed to be punished for it. So it was a case of playing intelligent football. It wasn't attractive, it was just one of those games where it was a players' day today. It was a shame with television there. We're able to play more football than that but to be able to win in those conditions I think is a good sign."

Once again, although John Langford wasn't able to emulate his bountiful harvest on the Colomiers throw of last week, the pressure on Marc dal Maso intensified as the match wore on, driving him to distraction and ultimately replacement.

"I've a lot of what I would call thinking rugby players," said Kidney. "Like, they think the game out there. This was a completely new (Colomiers) line-out against us today. They won a few at four coming forward at the start of the game but during the game they (Munster) were able to analyse what was going on in the game and started troubling them (Colomiers) from then on. That's one of the assets of the side, they're willing to think their way through the game."

By contrast, Munster profited continuously from the accurate and varied throws of Wood, regularly mauling Colomiers back yards, and with the help of a few backs joining in Wood was at the sharp end of two-try-scoring drives.

Wood later conceded that "Ronan O'Gara had his hands on the second one but I wasn't letting him have it, even though in truth it was more a 50-50 try. But he gets more points than I'll ever get anyway."

The pick of the three tries was undoubtedly the last, the awesomely talented Marcus Horan making the hard yards off another line-out maul, the enduringly excellent Anthony Foley then drawing in three tacklers but still setting up quick ruck ball in midfield, and from the halves' typically quick hands and O'Gara's skip pass, Mike Mullins' swift transfer gave the upcoming Dominic Crotty a clean run to the line.

Here, in a break from cliched perceptions, the other Colomiers coach, Henri Auriol, admitted: "I was quite surprised by the quality of the Munster backs, and I have been generally by the Irish and British backs this season, with their speed and explosiveness. It seems as if they have worked a lot on their physical strength, and now we have to."

Scoring sequence: 3 mins: Martinez try 0-5; 11 mins: O'Gara pen 3-5; 22 mins: Wood try 8-5; 30 mins: O'Gara pen 11-5; 58 mins: Wood try 16-5; 63 mins: Crotty try, O'Gara con 23-5.

MUNSTER: J Staunton; J Kelly, M Mullins, J Holland, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, K Wood, J Hayes, M Galwey (capt), J Langford, A Quinlan, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements: - J O'Neill for Horgan (28 mins), D Crotty for Staunton (55 mins), F Sheehan for Wood (77 mins), T Tierney for Stringer (77 mins), D O'Callaghan for Langford (80 mins).

COLOMIERS: J-L Sadourny; P Martinez, S Roque, J Sieurac, B Lhande; D Skrela, F Culinat; JP Beyssen, M dal Maso, J Tomuli, J-P Revallier, H Manent, F Ntamack, B de Giusti (capt), P Tabacco. Replacements: - W Begarie for Tomuli (halftime), G Moro for J-P Revallier (half-time), P Magendie for N'tamack (60 mins), C Laurent for dal Maso (60 mins), P Pueyo for de Giusti (73 mins).

Referee: A Lombardi (Italy).