RUGBY/Connacht 5 Munster 16:AFTERWARDS THE youngsters stormed the field in search of glamorous autographs and the 15 Connacht men who played the entire match placed their hands on their knees, buckled.
For most of the match, it could be said, the Westerners had forced the highest-ranked club in Europe to hold on for a hard-earned result. And yet in the end they must have felt as they so often feel when playing against richer clubs - as though they are hammering against a wrought-iron vault.
The Connacht squad must be sick to the teeth of hearing about moral victories and honesty and bravery and soldiering qualities of that variety, yet that is all they could take from last night's match, played in a predictably wet and sold-out Sportsground.
It was an acknowledgement of the Connacht resistance that Declan Kidney was forced to make liberal use of his all-star bench, bringing in Ronan O'Gara, Paul O'Connell, Frankie Sheahan and Rua Tipoki with little under half an hour to play and a strong wind behind his team.
There may have been some compliment too in the sight of O'Gara gratefully clipping a penalty on 60 minutes when Munster had held a 6-5 lead and found there was no way of bullying the Connacht men out of their lunch money.
But for all that, there was no disguising the embarrassment of riches the storied opposition brought here to Galway.
The killing score came late on, with Connacht under pressure on their own line and Andy Dunne, in an ambitious bid to counterstrike, flinging a skip pass across his own posts to the lingering three-quarters men. A dangerous tactic when one of the most decorated All-Blacks of all time is on the prowl; all of the Sportsground drew a breath as Doug Howlett attacked with the stealth of a panther, took flight to claim the pass and dived in for the most elementary of tries.
If the New Zealander needed any proof of the Irish climate, he found it here. There were periods when he cut such a disconsolate figure on the wing it seemed rude not to offer a sportsman of his calibre an umbrella or a hot toddy.
Much of the meat of this game was played in the centre. With that in mind, Kidney chose to play Denis Leamy at number 12, an experiment that proved a mixed bag. He handled precious little ball and his first meaningful attack involved a crash ball that sucked in more or less the entire Connacht three-quarter line. In a flash, Munster exploited the gaps, Alan Quinlan dashing through and playing a smart inside pass to set Lifeimi Mafi on a gallop. The first try looked a formality but Munster ran out of ground as Ian Dowling tore through and the Connacht men got back in the trenches to await the next onslaught.
It was difficult to foresee a home score. Connacht's attacking ambition had been reduced to a speculative drop-goal attempt from Andy Dunne after 10 minutes, after which they were penned in their own territory for a full 11 minutes as Munster kept probing for weaknesses.
But it was home team who crossed the line first. Gavin Duffy made ground along the right wing and when they recycled ball, Dunne hit Keith Matthews with a flat pass and the centre obliterated the Munster cover before giving the key pass for Daniel Riordan to touch down in the corner.
Munster had played a lot of rugby to be trailing 6-5 at the break. Quinlan and David Wallace were superb all evening and Mafi seemed to relish hammering into the green-and-black cover.
For one five-minute spell, just after Dunne missed a tricky penalty, Munster were camped on the Connacht 22, driving through gaps and drawing ferocious hits out of John Muldoon, Matthews, Robbie Morris and Johnny O'Connor. It seemed they must capitulate and yet 10 minutes later they were pressing hard on the Munster line, twice kicking to touch with penalties as they tried to muscle in for a second try. A huge drive by David Gannon seemed to have cleared a path but support was slow in arriving, Munster booted upfield and Connacht's chances vanished.
The heart was huge and the home crowd appreciative but it wasn't enough. Sooner or later, something is going to have to give with the IRFU policy towards Connacht. Most people recognise you won't meet a more honest group of professional sportsmen, but without more money they cannot really expect to take on the likes of Munster. In the end, it was the same old story: Connacht playing for pride and peanuts, Munster owning the night and motoring off with thoughts of European glory.
MUNSTER: D Hurley; D Howlett, L Mafi, D Leamy, I Dowling; P Warwick, P Stringer; T Buckley, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, D Ryan; A Quinlan, D Wallace, A Foley (capt). Replacements: F Sheahan for Flannery, M Horan for Buckley, P O'Connell for Ryan, R Tipoki for Foley (all 53 mins); R O'Gara for Warwick (58 mins); T O'Leary for Stringer (59 mins); Buckley for Horan (76 mins).
CONNACHT: G Duffy; M Mostyn, M Deane, K Matthews, D Riordan; A Dunne, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Morris; D Gannon, A Farley (capt); J Muldoon, J O'Connor; C Rigney.
Referee: S McDowell.
