Unlikely lads become heroes as Coventry win shows strength of Munster academy

Munster dug deep, not just on the day, but over the last two weeks in going back to their roots in their hour of need. Their bonus point, 35-14 win away to Wasps didn't just launch their Heineken Champions Cup, it will have resonated within the entire province as one of the proudest days among the many they've had in Europe.

It was a statement win too.

Their mix of Test match warriors and a bunch of unlikely lads turned likely lads reminded the province and everyone else that their academy and clubs are still producing, and how.

Coming after Connacht’s 36-9 bonus point win over Stade Francais at the Sportsground, it left the two Irish sides alongside Toulouse and Bristol in a formative Pool B table.

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It also completed an Irish four-timer which the bookies rated a 20/1 chance earlier in the week. And at the time, those odds didn’t seem particularly generous, not least given Munster were missing the 34 players who were ensnared South Africa when red list restrictions were introduced.

Ian Costello ran the show in the High Performance Centre, along with his academy assistants Andy Kyriacou and Greig Oliver, as well as the input of the senior coaches in isolation and the nine test players were spared the trek to South Africa.

“The key to that was the last two weeks,” said a proud Costello. “The last two weeks were special. Win, lose or draw today, we put ourselves in such a good position with our preparation by, I suppose, how aligned and connected everybody was in the organisation.

“We had three groups on the go. It’s hard to explain how challenging it was logistically but we made a good early decision to go a certain direction last Monday week.

“We made a decision to use our pathway. We felt that was the best way to prepare and train, where guys could work around their college schedules and we supplemented that with some National Talent Squad and some academy players.

“We basically closed up the bubble of about 35 players and we managed three (rounds of) Covid tests intact. So, to a certain extent, the way everybody pulled together, we had a lot of wind leading into today and to put a performance like that, that looked quite cohesive considering the challenges we had, was extraordinary.”

“I don’t know how to rank it for you. I just know it was as special as I can remember.”

The 19-year-old hooker Scott Buckley scored a try and was player of the match after a perfect return with his darts, albeit it helped that the aerially imperious Peter O’Mahony was his go-to man.

“I thought he was extraordinary,” said Costello of O’Mahony, who also hailed his captain’s influence on the young players over the previous two weeks.

"He has taken Daniel Okeke under his wing and so have all the senior players and they have spoken inside and that ranks up with Munster's special performances and the words they are using inside is that this two weeks is part of their career that they will remember for the rest of their lives. But again we are laying down a marker where it has to be something that drives us forward now again for the rest of the season."

O’Mahony also covered a mountain of ground in the backfield, most notably when getting his angles right and determinedly tracking the quicker Thomas Young to the corner flag and tackling him into touch at the end of an exhausting two-minute plus opening salvo. It was that kind of game. It was wild. Incidents abounded.

“Peter O’Mahony’s tackle in the corner, like rugby’s such a game of momentum and sometimes you don’t realise how big a moment that could be,” said Costello.

“That’s Peter’s class. Thomas Young who made that break is ridiculously quick and Peter’s attitude to get him into touch at the end, we were 3-0 up for a long time and under the pump - maybe it was that 20 minutes that laid a foundation.

"That's where the senior players, that sense of calm and composure, some of our exits were really good under pressure and that's why they're world class," added Costello, highlighting an understated but supremely effective performance by Conor Murray.

"That's why Peter and Tadhg are Lions," also referencing the immense Tadhg Beirne.

“Special mention for John Hodnett, he’s coming back from injury but he wasn’t missing this. Chris Farrell, Roman Salanoa the same - nobody wanted to miss this. For him to get some vital poaches early in the game, to get to 65 or so minutes showed how much people wanted to fight today.”

As for the try-scoring 19-year-old debutant Patrick Campbell, who survived early targeting in the air by Jimmy Gopperth to finish handsomely in credit, Costello added wryly of the former Cork minor All-Ireland football final winner in 2019: “This is a small crowd for Pat, he’s played in Croke Park in front of 50,000 people! It’s just a small event in his career.”

“He’s a really composed young player, how many AIL games has he played? He’s played about 800 minutes this year, you go and watch him live and you get a real sense of confidence about where he’s at.

“His fundamentals are strong, he plays with huge confidence and that try he got was just a snap-shot of what he’s done in the last couple of months for Young Munster, our A team… it was fantastic to watch.”

The only downside to Munster’s day was the sight of Joey Carbery being helped off after prolonged treatment following a late hit to his body by Bomber Hislop.

“I haven’t got any update to be honest,” said Costello. “I know he came off with his jersey wrapped around in a sling but I don’t honestly know yet, I haven’t spoken to the medics.”