Crash ball
Trevor Watson
AFTER a hectic weekend of Heineken Cup Rugby, in the end it was all as expected. Yet again Munster upset the odds. Yet again Toulouse advanced to the semi-finals for an unprecedented eighth time. Yet again the Welsh franchises flattered to deceive. Yet again it will be an all-foreign affair in Cardiff on May 24.
Tournament favourites, Toulouse, administered a sound thrashing of Cardiff to book their place in the record books and the semi-final . They will play London Irish at Twickenham on April 26 at 2pm.
London Irish will also be happy with their 20-9 win over Perpignan at the weekend. They will know, however, that Toulouse pose a much sterner test.
The other semi-final pairing sees Munster matched up with Saracens. That game will be played on April 27 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
While Munster were authoritave and confident in their victory over Gloucester, they needed to be. Saracens are definitely the surprise package in the last four. After the previous week’s thumping they received from the Ospreys in the Anglo Welsh Cup, many people thought that the Welsh side would simply stroll through to the last four.
Not so. Saracens, powered by the boot of kiwi out-half Glen Jackson, who landed three penalties, a drop goal and a conversion, turned the tables on the Welshmen and strode confidently on.
Munster will have to be on their guard. Saracens have a strong scrum of which south African prop Cobus Visagie is the corner stone. They have good line-out options in Hugh Vyvian and Kris Chesney and they have experience of Richard Hill to keep the show together. Couple that with the boot of Jackson, and the blistering pace out wide of Richard Haughton and Brent Russell, and you have a formidable outfit.
Visagie will trouble Marcus Horan (or Buckley) come scrum time and Haughton had a super match both on the wing and when he moved to full back.
Munster fans are renowned world wide for their passion and loyalty but for one group of ticketless supporters last weekend, that loyalty was tested to new limits.
A group of 12-14 ‘gentlemen’ snuck into the ground approximately eight hours before kick off at Kingsholm and hid out, well, basically behind the jacks, to put it colloquially, like a crowd of young fellas mitching from school.
Not sure what gave them away (it may have been like the lads I went to school with who were caught mitching by the principal when he saw puffs of dark silk cut purple smoke wafting from the bushes…) but anyway, the intruders were spotted and booted out of the stadium.
So despite having a nice break in the public toilets in Kingsholm, the merry band of followers had nothing to show for their exploits but smelly clothes and a plane ticket home. Still, at least Munster won.
IT was also a memorable weekend for Monivea who came from behind to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Cill Dara on Saturday last.
Flanker David Boyle got the all important last-gasp try which sees the Galway men advance to the play-offs where they will face Waterpark, away, at the end of the month.
Should they be victorious in that match, Monivea would then follow in the footsteps of Connemara and advance to Division Three of the AIL next season. It would be a fantastic achievement. The best of luck to them.
