HEINEKEN CUP: MUNSTER'S HOME QUARTER-FINALS:THE WORDS Munster, Thomond Park and Heineken Cup are virtually synonymous with each other. They immediately provoke memories of epic victories, either putting visitors to the sword or of the home side manufacturing heroic acts of escapology, all to the backdrop of changing edifices at Thomond Park but with the same raw passion of knowledgeable capacity crowds who seem to share an umbilical link with the men in red. Visiting teams have simply been swept away by the tide.
Even in the early days when the Irish provinces struggled to live with more professional outfits from France and England especially, Munster were building a reputation at home, and this extended to Musgrave Park as well. In 54 home games in the premier European competition, Munster have won 52 and lost only two, namely the 37-32 defeat to a Rob Howley-inspired Cardiff in 1997 in Cork, and the 13-6 defeat to Leicester at Thomond Park in the final pool game of the 2006-07 season, at which point Munster had already qualified, though that defeat for the reigning champions would condemn them to an away quarter-final against the Scarlets which they lost.
Overall, though, in 43 Heineken Cup ties at Thomond Park, Munster have won the other 42. It is a truly astonishing record when you think of how many times they have been in perilous situations; the most recent being that extraordinary endgame and Ronan O’Gara’s last-kick drop goal against Northampton in October.
It’s a measure of the task facing Ulster in the third all-Ireland Heineken Cup clash at Thomond Park on Sunday that only Toulouse can match Munster’s record at the quarter-final stage of the competition. In a dozen previous quarter-finals, Munster have won nine, including all six at home – of which all but one have been at their Limerick fortress.
Generations have come and gone as the baton has been passed on from one incumbent to another, but some things have remained constant. Remarkably, three players have started all six of the home quarter-finals dating back to the first of them, a 27-10 win over Stade Francais in April 2000, namely John Hayes, David Wallace and O’Gara.
The latter may be the only one to have started all seven come Sunday, and his accuracy off the kicking “tee” has been a measure of his, and his team’s, big-game mentality. In those half-dozen home quarter-finals, O’Gara has scored 101 points.
A dozen years ago this month, Munster were in relative new territory, having lost their first quarter-final away to Colomiers the previous season. But helped by an epic 31-30 win over Saracens in the final pool game – courtesy of a last-ditch drop goal and match-winning conversion by O’Gara – they earned home advantage in the last eight for the first time.
Then manager Brian O’Brien was sent on a reconnaissance mission to watch Stade. He came away convinced that rattling Diego Dominguez was the key to success and the man to do it should be Keith Wood.
Wood duly hounded the little Argentinian-born Italian outhalf from the off and tries by Dominic Crotty and Anthony Horgan, along with 17 points from O’Gara, ensured the win.
The following season, Munster earned a home quarter-final against Biarritz and having reached the final the previous season expectations and confidence were high. Anthony Foley earned himself pizzas for life by scoring all of Munster’s three tries but given his exploits, Alan Quinlan, who wore matching headgear, a little sheepishly accepted the man-of-the-match award.
Nevertheless, Biarritz were far from fazed by the occasion and, like a dog with a bone, kept coming back and outscored the home side by four tries to three. They were still looking for a match-winning converted try on half-way with the game’s last play when a slightly questionable call by Ed Morrison led to the vast majority of a 14,000 crowd exhaling relief as one before O’Gara’s seventh penalty of the day sealed the win.
Stade Francais, whom Munster had also beaten in Stade Jean Bouin in 2002, came calling again in 2004, but ultimately, they were indebted to Alan Gaffney’s think tank identifying Stade’s soft outside defence as Mike Mullins and Shaun Payne scored early tries, before Rob Henderson and Marcus Horan kept their noses in front.
Replacement Mathieu Blin was yellow-carded that day and even more critically two seasons later, Perpignan lost both Nicolas Durand and Nicolas Mas to the bin at Lansdowne Road. Coming after Leinster’s 41-35 quarter-final win away to Toulouse earlier in the day, Munster’s 19-10 arm wrestle with the Catalonians was wrongly interpreted as a laboured performance in many quarters, even though a league cancellation a week before had left Munster without a match since before the Six Nations and injuries forced them to play Tomás O’Leary at outside centre.
Perpignan put it up to Munster that day but, inspired by the try-scoring Paul O’Connell, they ground out a 19-10 win which set up their semi-final win over Leinster and final victory over Biarritz to reach their Holy Grail.
Three years later, the Munster dogs of war up front were largely unchanged but only O’Gara and Ian Dowling survived in a revamped backline when they hosted the Ospreys as reigning champions. The ruthless 43-9 win at a redeveloped, 26,000-capacity Thomond Park was possibly Munster’s finest all-round display in Europe.
It was probably Paul Warwick’s best performance for the province. He set them on their way with a try and two stunning drop goals, O’Connell also on the score sheet before two tries in three minutes entering the final quarter by Keith Earls sealed the slaughter.
Two years ago, there was even more trepidation in the air when news filtered through that O’Connell would be ruled out for the visit of a highly-regarded (not least by themselves) Northampton side who, along with Perpignan, had brought Munster to the brink of defeat at Thomond in the pool stages.
Mick O’Driscoll ably filled the void, and though Munster trailed at the break, they dominated possession and territory thereafter, with O’Leary outstanding at scrumhalf and O’Gara, majestic on the day, unerringly pulled the strings. Doug Howlett scored a couple of fine tries with fellow imports Warwick and an unstoppable Jean de Villiers adding the others.
As Ulster realise only too well, at the business end of the competition and in their Limerick fortress, Munster take some stopping.
Munster Home Quarter Finals
1999-2000:Beat Stade Francais 27-10.
2000-2001:Beat Biarritz 38-29. 2003-2004: Beat Stade Francais 37-32.
2005-2006:Beat Perpignan 19-10 (at Lansdowne Road).
2008-2009:Beat Ospreys 43-9.
2009-2010:Beat Northampton 33-19.
