RUGBY:Drivers in south Wales were advised not to take their cars on to the roads yesterday morning amid warnings of flooded roads and a mudslide. After getting down and dirty at Stradey Park on a sodden Saturday night, Munster made off with the four points on to their charter flight, touching down in Cork and Limerick either side of 1am with two buffeted and singularly quiet landings. They hope to thaw out by the time the teams meet again next Sunday lunchtime. The pool of sharks indeed.
Once again, as the Munstermen wryly admitted, they were indebted to Leinster beating them - also recalling their salutary Magners Celtic League defeat at the RDS in the season they went on to win the Heineken European Cup. The previous Friday night's wet weather warm-up, so to speak, in Musgrave Park ultimately proved ideal preparation for Saturday's critical 29-16 win, although in point of fact it was colder in Cork, if not nearly as sodden or windy.
"I think last weekend stood to us really well and it was really important that we rebounded in the style that we needed to," said their captain Ronan O'Gara after his seven-from-seven, 19- point haul took his tally for the campaign to 43 points, with a success ratio of 17 from 18.
O'Gara rather sheepishly accepted the award as man of the match but by rights, of all days, Scott Quinnell should have picked a fellow forward.
No-one put themselves about more physically or to better effect from the off than John Hayes, and David Wallace had his best game of the season. But one would find it hard to believe that Munster would have negotiated this with such control, calm and patience had the old dog for the long road, Anthony Foley, not been around for the 80 minutes in his 82nd cup appearance. He seemed, as ever, to be at the hub of everything.
"That's typical of the man," said O'Gara. "These are his conditions, and that's not being disrespectful to him, but he's been playing this game for 15 years and he's played for Shannon probably against men twice the size of that in the old AIL when they kicked lumps out of each other. He's just a great sounding board too and I think it was hugely important that he led the pack really well."
Whether because of reverting to number six or simply having Foley alongside him to ease the load of a pressure-laden season, Denis Leamy revelled in the full-on physicality of the game, with huge hits, tireless work-rate and rumbling. It was great to see.
Indeed all their forwards, seemingly with lingering post-World Cup hangovers, came good in their hour of biggest need to date, with Frankie Sheahan, too, making a big impact.
"A lot of questions had been asked of certain individuals in the pack. I thought the way that Donncha, Leamy, Wally and Marcus - probably fellas who had been underperforming up to now - answered back to their fellow players and maybe the public was great, because I think they were probably feeling the pressure a little bit but I always knew the quality was there," O'Gara added. "I've been outhalf behind this pack for 10 years nearly and it's been a good ride. There's been some bad days but on the whole they're a great bunch of lads."
When Llanelli came back to 22-13 by the 52-minute mark with a storm of hailstones slanting into Munster, referee Wayne Barnes consulted the captains. The result would have stood only had the game been abandoned after the hour mark.
"So I asked him after how long if the game is abandoned does the team (in the lead) win and Simon was willing to give me the game at that stage" quipped a smiling O'Gara. "No, he asked to take a break for a few minutes but then he asked the forwards and the forwards said play on. So that was it."
Yesterday's two televised games saw mud-splattered tryless 12-6 and 9-6 wins for Stade Français and Glasgow over Cardiff and Biarritz, while London Irish beat Perpignan 24-16 on a day punctuated by yet another raft of home-town decisions.
Only London Irish and Gloucester remain unbeaten, in Pools One and Two, with only Perpignan and the Ospreys in their slipstream, but all other pools are finely balanced, three-way affairs with bonuses the difference between Munster being first in Pool Five and Leinster third in Pool Six.
Viewed in that light, Leinster's failure to obtain a bonus point at home to Edinburgh last Friday compounds the coughing up of one in Toulouse in round two. Scrumhalf remains a problem position in the wake of Chris Whitaker's fractured foot and to that end Leinster have contacted their former scrumhalf Guy Easterby to coax him out of retirement and will announce his signing as their "additional player" this week.
Pool Five
P W D L F A B Pts
Munster 3 2 0 1 88 53 2 10
Clermont 3 2 0 1 98 84 1 9
Wasps 3 2 0 1 84 77 1 9
Llanelli 3 0 0 3 54 110 0 0
Pool Six
P W D L F A B Pts
Toulouse 3 2 0 0 61 35 2 10
Leicester 3 2 0 1 62 31 1 9
Leinster 3 2 0 1 56 56 0 8
Edinburgh 3 0 0 3 29 86 1 1
