Stringer and O'Gara X-rays reveal no major damage

MAGNERS LEAGUE:RONAN O'GARA and Peter Stringer will be monitored closely over the next few days to see how they progress from the knocks they sustained at the RDS on Saturday but at least X-rays showed there was no structural damage to their respective knee and neck injuries.

Stringer was taken straight to St Vincent's hospital where he was shown to have bruising and soft-tissue damage to around the neck and shoulder before being discharged. Similarly, O'Gara suffered nothing untoward in twisting his knee but in both instances it is "too early to say" how soon they will be back training again.

Not surprisingly, rescaling the emotional and physical heights of last week was always going to prove a tall order for Munster, whereas in many respects, for Leinster, this was the "cup final" of their run-in.

As Michael Cheika conceded afterwards, with last weekend off he was better equipped to play through the match with virtually the same XV, whereas Munster's unusually liberal use of the bench betrayed a slight hint of weariness after the emotional and physical demands of their epic win in Gloucester.

"They've just come back from a very big game, not just physically but emotionally as well, and it's hard to come back again and do it again.

"But the guys were full of running and playing well and it would have been a brave man to take one of them off," he quipped.

"That's good of Michael to say that," commented Declan Kidney subsequently, who nevertheless was not of a mind to accept or make excuses, "but our job as professionals is to be ready for each week, and I think that's the challenge for us. We know teams get up for us, but that's what's driven us on to be the side we are.

"I think that's under-estimating his own team's performance. They played very well and they should be congratulated for it."

Conditions and the spate of penalties prevented it from being a classic, but for intensity, the sheer force of the collisions and the growing assurance in Leinster's game, it was compelling viewing. And, one suspects, all the more satisfying in the home dressingroom and amongst home supporters for all of that.

"All around the field we tried to put pressure on them, because if you stand off them and you let them wind up their machine like Gloucester did last week they'll tear you apart," said Cheika, who admitted reducing the risk of mistakes was a key part of the gameplan because "a big part of what they do is force you to make mistakes and punish you for it".

And keeping their cool.

"We gotta play discipline against Munster because they want to talk to you so you've got to be so disciplined to steer clear of that. But it's a balancing act between steering clear of that and not backing down.

"You can't back down but you can't get into it and loose your lot either. In the two games we've played against them I've been happy enough with the discipline bar a couple of penalties, because they're intense matches."

For his part, Kidney could scarcely conceal his obvious disappointment with the ill-discipline with which Munster coughed up a number of needless penalties.

"I wouldn't say that that's really us, and that would be a disappointing feature of it and that's something that's definitely in our control. If we fix it we'll be a better side, and if we don't, we'll get more of the same."

Nor will they lie down at home to the Ospreys next Saturday.

"Unfortunately in Ireland we seem to knock our own Magners League. That was as good a quality a game as you'd see in the French or English leagues. We've a game against Ospreys, the EDF champions, 14 of the holders of the Six Nations, and we have to get ourselves ready for that one."

Johnny Sexton, who applied the finishing touch and gave further notice of his burgeoning talent, heaped praise on the Leinster pack. "They've done it all season and they spoke about it today. It takes one bad performance and you guys will get on their backs again, they'll be the typical Leinster forwards again. It's something they're conscious of, about getting rid of this Leinster thing of being soft."

The way he describes it, with Chris Whitaker inside him and Felipe Contepomi outside, he had an armchair ride.

"His kicking was unbelievable all day. He helps me along during the week and during the game with talk, but also he tells me I'm in charge. Chris Whitaker is unbelievable, the best scrumhalf around, I think. He just controls things for you and he's a pleasure to play with as well."