KICKING FOR TOUCH Gavin Duffy plays for territory during the Magners League match against Munster at the Sportsground recently. Pic: Sportsfile
Moral victories not enough now
Gavin DuffyAS Gloucester found out last weekend, if you don’t take your opportunities against this Munster team you will more often than not be put to the sword. This also proved the case in Galway ten days ago when we played them in the Magners League.
After a very poor second half away to Edinburgh in our last game we had a lot to work on ahead of our fifth and penultimate local derby of the season.
The sold out signs were hanging from the gates of the Sportsground as early as the Thursday morning and we were quietly confident of turning the tables on the southern province, albeit for the first time in twenty years. We’ve enjoyed playing at home this season as the growing crowds get behind us from the first whistle to create a great atmosphere and we love nothing more than giving them something to cheer about!
Out-half Paul Warwick, one of three former Connacht players in the Munster team, kicked the visitors into an early lead on six minutes with a penalty but with our forwards giving as good as they got and more, we held the visitors scoreless until the break.
We also created a few opportunities of our own before finally making a breakthrough just before the stroke of half-time. Great feet by Keith Matthews created the break in midfield before Danny Riordan received the vital pass to dive over in the corner. The score was 5-3 at half-time.
During the interval we spoke about being clinical with any opportunity we created in the second half. We also decided that we desperately did not want this to be another ‘hard luck, brave display’ story for us as a squad. Make the opportunity count was the message.
Ronan O’Gara, Frankie Sheehan, Paul O’Connell, Marcus Horan, Rua Tipoki and Tomas O’Leary all came off the bench for the visitors midway through the second half and it was O’Gara again who steered Munster in the right direction with two penalties.
With ten minutes to go we found ourselves camped on the Munster try line. This was it. This was our opportunity. Munster conceded two penalties as our forwards pilled on the pressure. Surely a third would lead to a penalty try I thought.
However, Declan Kidney’s men again showed all their experience forcing a turnover before O’Gara cleared their lines. We threw everything we had at them but with Tipoki and Mafi proving to be tough defenders to beat in midfield, we failed to get the field position or more importantly the score we were searching for.
In our desperation we conceded an intercept try in the dying moments as we attempted to run the ball from under our own posts. 16-9 was the final score. Not even a losing bonus point to show for our efforts.
We now face Ulster away on Friday night in another big local derby. We still have hopes of qualifying for the Heineken Cup next season but defeat up in Ravenhill if other results don’t go our way (ie the Dragons winning) would see us facing an uphill struggle in the last three games.
How we would love to be playing the Ospreys at the Sportsground in the final game of the season on May 9 with everything still to play for. Our focus is firmly on Friday night however. We still have an opportunity to achieve our objective this season but we must grasp it before it’s too late.
MUNSTER’S ARMY MARCH ONWARDS
WE had no game with Connacht last weekend and although it’s nice to have a free weekend from time to time, there can often be no escaping from the rugby spotlight.
Last weekend was no different with the quarter-finals of the European Heineken Cup grabbing the attention on both Saturday and Sunday. The usual heavyweights of Stade Francais, Biarritz, Leicester and last year’s winners, Wasps, were all eliminated at the pool stage ensuring a degree of novelty was added to a fascinating mix in the last eight.
London Irish, progressing to the knockout stages for the first time, hosted Perpignan at the Madjseki Stadium in Reading. The sides had already met in the pool stages (recording one victory apiece) and Irish made home advantage count once again last Saturday as they accounted for the French side with eleven points to spare.
Next up it was the eagerly anticipated battle between Gloucester against Munster. The highest ranked team in European rugby yet again showed why they are so with an utterly convincing and dominant display against the English Premiership leaders. Defensively, Munster were superb. They limited the home side, who attempted to play with a lot of width and pace, to a solitary score which came in the form of a late penalty goal by Ryan Lamb. The winners were also clinical in attack and Ronan O’Gara again provided a platform from which to build after landing his first attempt at goal following their first sustained attack twelve minutes in. Frustratingly for the home side, they should have troubled the score-keeper as early as the first minute but the usually reliable Chris Patterson (who has successfully kicked his last 33 attempts at goal for Scotland) saw his penalty fly to the left of the uprights.
Patterson missed another two penalties and the cherry whites found themselves 16-0 down before Lamb eventually got them of the mark in the 66th minute. The game was over by then!
So Munster march on to play Saracens who surprisingly accounted for the Ospreys 19-10 last Sunday. That semi-final will be held in Coventry but surely the organisers could have got a larger venue! London Irish play Toulouse in Twickenham in the other semi-final. It would be a major surprise if it were not Munster and Toulouse who reach the decider to be played in Cardiff at the end of May. The only downside being that Munster ‘song’ that you may have heard on the radio recently. It’s worth remembering that the longer they stay in the competition the more we’ll hear that...
