Wasps' fitness a big factor in victory

On Rugby: Hit the pause button. Take a breath, and rewind. Was it really as good as Shaun Edwards said it was? Rob Howley wasn't inclined to disagree, and Lawrence Dallaglio put it right up there. So yes, it probably was, if you were a Wasp.

But it was too heartbreaking for Munster, the Red Army and the rest of us. As an occasion it was indeed right up there, as memorable as the odyssey to Twickenham for the one-point defeat to Northampton in the Millennium decider to the Heineken European Cup, and perhaps an even bigger day out for Irish rugby, for Connacht have never had a day like it either.

As a contest, it was even better, living up to its billing as the game of the season in this country and for some Englishmen, eclipsed only by the World Cup final this season. It will, as Edwards suggested, stand up to repeated viewing. No amount of hype or billing could have adequately prepared us for what happened. Dallaglio spoke of how Wasps had deliberately stayed in Jurys, close to Lansdowne Road, so as to absorb the impending sense of occasion and even feed off it.

Yet when he first went out onto the pitch and cast his eyes around the ground he was moved to say two words, the first of which was "holy" and the second of which is not suitable for a family organ such as this. (In his emotional pre-match address to his players, apparently, he also used "the shafting" of Warren Gatland as a motivational, and unprintable, tool).

It's been said before and it'll be said again, but Munster are the best thing that ever happened to this brilliant competition, and the Heineken Cup is the best thing that ever happened Munster. You wish they would get their hands on their cup, if only so we could rest easier at night. Nonetheless, the thought has occurred that as long as Munster keeping seeing the mountain top without scaling it, so much the better for the ERC and their flagship tournament. And having been through so much, Munster fans will be damned if they aren't there in case the men in red do reach their holy grail one day.

So each year the interest is heightened, the numbers swell and on Sunday ERC could boast of a record semi-final attendance. But they bring more than numbers, they bring a parochial, parish-like partisanship, and walking up Lansdowne Road two hours before kick-off, comparisons with a day out in Croke Park seemed valid. Colourful, noisey (compare and contrast with Leinster's semi-final 12 months previously) and, unlike many of the day-trippers and corporate guests on Six Nations days, actually interested enough to arrive early, they also replicated Thomond Park.

Part of the Saturday afternoon ritual in the Limerick venue is the roar which greets the Munster team when they embark upon their warm-up and, especially when they make the deliberate, slow walk back to the dressing-room. No less than their exceptional team, the Wasps crowd added to the buzz too. And credit to them for largely contributing to the Thomondesque silence for the goalkickers.

Munster's unstinting support will no doubt help to pick themselves off the ground and redouble their efforts next year. But for how much longer? Ironically, Munster have upped the ante for everyone, and made the cup a more cherished competition, so making it even more difficult to win than it was in 2000 (which, with Keith Wood, David Wallace and Mike Mullins in their pomp together, was the one that got away). An Anglo-French carve-up is probably the biggest threat to the European Cup's continued growth, and Munster remain the most viable contender to this duopoly.

Sunday's near miss exposed a few frailties for Munster and their coach Alan Gaffney. The province has never been a conveyor belt of talented backs, and, significantly, of the back line which finished Sunday's game only Peter Stringer and John Kelly are indigenous products.

Gaffney has moved to expand their options with the capture of Shaun Payne (a cracking good buy) and Christian Cullen. The All Blacks' record try scorer did as much as anyone to instigate Munster's second-half revival with two vintage moments, but a bit like Mullins (who had one of those days when his tackling technique seemed to desert him), he's added to the likelihood of tries at both ends of the field. Cullen, however, will hopefully be inestimably stronger, fitter and more confident next season.

The commonly held view is Munster lack the cutting edge to go the final few yards. Yet two tries and 32 points is no mean achievement against Wasps' rushed defence, and their sometimes cynical killing of rucking ball or taking out players off the ball. Indeed, Munster have been more potent and prolific this season than last, and in the last two knock-out games they scored six tries and 69 points, but have conceded nine tries and 69 points.

This was also the second semi-final in a row where Gaffney had less impact options off the bench than his counterpart and well though Jason Holland played, the loss of Ronan O'Gara highlighted the lack of cover at outhalf, as well as other positions. With that in mind, Paul Burke looks like a fine acquisition. But perhaps the most eye-opening factor of Munster's defeat was that Wasps looked fitter, faster and fresher.

"They (Munster) were tiring," ventured Dallaglio afterwards. "You could hear it in their breathing and see it in their eyes."

One ventures Gaffney will have been struck by that, and by Wasps' employment of three professional fitness coaches as well as three more student physios on placement for a year. Mike McGurn, the reinstated fitness coach to the Irish team, was sent to Coventry for a while when publicly claiming fitness levels at provincial levels were behind club set-ups elsewhere, but maybe he was on to something.

gthornley@irish-times.ie