O'Gara leads Munster revival

The Fat Lady could have bought her evening gown, tried it on, applied her make-up, recited a few words and then cleared her throat as the curtains rose, but you still would not count out this Munster team.

Declan Kidney observed afterwards it would have taken an exceptional side to have lived with Newport in the first quarter. True, and not even Munster could as they fell 15-0 behind. Ultimately though, it took an exceptional side to beat Newport.

Cue the pitch invasion and an away match had become a home match. The Fat Lady was elbowed aside for the usual renditions, first Munster Branch honorary secretary Dermot Kelly grabbing the microphone and leading a hearty Fields of Athenry (which happens to be in Connacht, but never mind) and then the squad went into their customary dressingroom circle for the Brian O'Brien-inspired Stand Up and Fight anthem of the last three seasons.

To outscore an inspired Newport in their near impregnable Rodney Parade fortress (one defeat in the preceding 20 matches and 14 months) by 29-3 in the second half may have been a bit misleading, and certainly outrageous, but it says volumes for this team's mental strength. You may call it character or spirit; Kidney calls it honesty.

It was a privilege to be there. They never fail to provide a tonic. Everything it seemed had conspired against them. Leinster and Ulster had been caught cold the night before (and both would assuredly have been beaten long before the finish here), raising the real fear Munster too would be crippled by the enforced 10-week break and relative inactivity of December. Shred that theory.

Even so, the early skirmishes added to the sense of foreboding. Newport's cosmopolitan array of stars set the tempo with Shane Howarth's beautifully mixed running game - varying his flatness and depth, his eye for the break kept the close-in defence honest and his deft handling kept the black and amber waves in full flow - the rapier like intrusions of Matt Pini and finishing of Matt Mostyn ensured they were full value for their 15-point lead.

Even the bounce of the ball was going cruelly against Munster, as were the balance of the officials' decisions. About the only consoling thoughts at this point were that Munster had hardly touched the ball and that such opening flurries by the home side are the norm in the Heineken Cup.

They needed a break and got it with Mostyn's sinbinning for dangerously taking out an airborne Anthony Horgan - foolish rather than malicious - but whereas others might have taken an opportunity to catch their breath, Munster applied their own quick tempo and patterns.

As ever, it was a complete team performance in which no one played poorly, most played very well and some were outstanding. First and foremost, as we had said beforehand, for the comeback to be realised it needed big displays from Ronan O'Gara and John Langford.

Some things change but the importance of goalkicking and set pieces are still pretty much cast in stone. Whereas Shane Howarth missed four from eight (including one from his own half), O'Gara was unerring in his seven kicks, tagging on a couple of drop goals and a try. One could nit pick about the turnover in contact which led to Pini's try, or a couple of sliced line-kicks, but O'Gara was majestic. Clearly benefitting from speed work, he took it on the gain-line at pace and has rarely looked more threatening.

Langford nicked three Newport throws, and debilitatingly for Newport these included a couple close to the Munster line after the home side had opted for penalties to touch - and there was also a crooked throw by James Richards. By comparison, there was a 100 per cent return off Frankie Sheahan's darts. Credit to him, to Langford, to the supreme lifting of John Hayes, to their organisation, and to Niall O'Donovan's work on the training ground.

The scrum too wreaked important damage, beyond the first of O'Gara's four uplifting threepointers in the third quarter as the tide began turning irrevocably Munster's way. With Rome also in mind, no less than Peter Stringer and O'Gara, Peter Clohessy and Hayes had timely big games. Hayes was a colossus, for all of this came with the his thunderous brick-wall defending.

The back row became more and more influential, but when the going had been at its toughest, no one had been going stronger than the indestructible, indefatigable David Wallace. It was he as much as anyone who had lit the torch with the first gallop when Newport finally turned over the ball after 22 minutes and it was he who had brilliantly retrieved Stringer's loose pass to regenerate the momentum for O'Gara's opening try.

The game was still finely poised at 24-22 moving into the denouement when the awesome Fijian lock Simon Raiwalui was harshly adjudged not to have taken his mark correctly.

Aware of the try count and scoreline, Mick Galwey, who had a strong, strong game, signalled to O'Gara to have a drop goal (with a back-row move as plan B if the scrum was solid) and in putting Munster ahead for the first time undoubtedly it was a pivotal moment also. But they would probably have won anyway. Playing for territory and stealthily taking scores with almost every visit, tactically they had mastered Newport in the second period.

Where others we could name would assuredly have panicked and, say, kicked the leather off the ball, Munster kept it. Mike Mullins applied the coup de gace with his storming, stirring outside break, (anyone out there still think he isn't quick?) and Anthony Horgan's intercept probably gave the scoreline a misleading gloss.

Even so, astounding escapologists though they are, they're pretty good front-runners too. It would all be quite extraordinary except that the quite extraordinary is almost the norm for this lot.

Scoring sequence: 13 mins: Mostyn try, Howarth con 7-0; 17 mins: Howarth pen 10-0; 20 mins: Pini try 15-0; 26 mins:P O'Gara try and con 15-7; 36 mins: O'Gara pen 15-10; 39 mins: Howarth drop goal 18-10; 40 mins: Howarth pen 21-10; 49 mins: O'Gara pen 21-13; O'Gara drop goal 21-16; 54 mins: Howarth pen 24-16; 56 mins: O'Gara pen 24-19; 59 mins: O'Gara pen 24-22; 75 mins: O'Gara drop goal 24-25; 77 mins: Mullins try, O'Gara con 24-32; 85 mins: Horgan try, O'Gara con 24-39.

NEWPORT: M Pini; M Mostyn, J Jones-Hughes, A Marinos, M Llewellyn; S Howarth, D Edwards; C Jones, J Richards, R Snow, S Raiwalui, I Gough, A Popham, G Teichmann (capt), J Foster. Replacements - J Pritchard for Marinos (45 mins), J Powell (74 mins).

MUNSTER: D Crotty; J O'Neill, J Kelly, K Keane, A Horgan; R O'Gara, P Stringer; P Clohessy, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M Galwey, J Langford, A Quinlan, A Foley, D Wallace. Replacements - M Mullins for Keane (58 mins).

Referee: Joel Jutge (France).