Some nights you just know you’re going to remember forever. This was one of them. From the minute I walked through Cork city at around five o’clock and saw all the Munster kit around the place, I had a feeling it would be something special. Walking past the Idle Hour and Goldbergs to meet Jeff Neville and seeing both pubs heaving with people three or four deep outside, never mind what it was like inside, gave me an even bigger feeling. The walk to the stadium surrounded by hundreds, thousands of others – suspicions raised that this was, indeed, something special.
Seeing the terraces full to the brim at seven o’clock, half an hour before kick-off sealed it for me.
This was One Of Those Nights.
That it was a wet Thursday night in Cork made it special even amongst Those Nights.
How special it would be by the time the 80 minutes were up? I had no idea until it happened.
***
I’m rarely an entirely professional whenever I have a seat in the press box.
When I’m on the radio, I try to keep it relatively relaxed when Munster score a try because shouting and roaring into a mic that’s two inches away from your mouth doesn’t sound great and if I stand up swinging my fists around I might hit Dan Mooney or unplug something. That’s a big hassle because (a) Dan doesn’t like it when I accidentally box him in the head and (b) those wires are complicated enough going in the first time, never mind mid-game. So I stay seated. I look professional.
But when I’m not on the radio and just there covering the game in the stadium, I become untethered. I’m not there as a “journalist” because I’m not a journalist, I never wanted to be and I never will be. I’m a fan with a laptop and I wear that badge with pride. When Shane Daly ran in this try on Thursday night barely three minutes into the game I was up out of my seat fists flying.
Munster needed a moment to start this game off right, to get the crowd up and they produced it right when it was needed. It wasn’t just a lucky bounce either; this was the system that Munster have been working hard to implement over the last few months clicking at just the right time.
What are the principles we discussed? Forwards forcing compressions and securing the ball, backs operating as a specific unit outside and behind them.
Of course there is outstanding individual skill here – Healy’s pass and Frisch’s drift and offload in particular – but these are our principles of play in action. Compress, hold, strike, finish.
We consistently stressed the South African defence in a way that was wildly different to how Ireland approached the same concept against the Springboks. Ireland box kicked to keep the South Africans close and away from kick transition – we saw the danger that brings in the match at the weekend – and rolled the dice at the scrum. Munster decided that the best way to tangle with this South African side was to kick long, up our PPC to north of 1.35 and roll the dice with the conditions.
Make no mistake, this was a game designed for an up-the-jumper sledgehammer fight in a wardrobe but Munster threw that out on the first play of the game. We backed our transition defence – to great effect – and backed our own ability to play ball in conditions you wouldn’t put the dog out in.
It almost worked for a try that would have shown the world exactly what we’re capable of and how much we’ve changed since last season.
Quite simply, we were not creating these kinds of opportunities under Larkham because we were not using counter-transition as a concept.
We can laugh about butchering this after the game because we won but we’ll be looking to catch Toulouse with the same concept so we cannot afford an error of that scale there. Edge forwards are judged, in part, on their ability to execute those very opportunities generated by the system we’re playing.
The core part of Munster’s game here was bravery – bravery to stick to a high PPC system in weather conditions that typically say to tuck it up the jumper. Look at this sequence of phases off a lineout.
This is a good example of what the system produced – offside penalties because of good gainline and quick breakdowns, offensive depth, backs with backs, forwards with forwards and look, poor execution at the end on penalty advantage but the windows were there.
To make that work, you need ballsy players backing their skill set and, to a man, they did that. But they had to work for it too. The scrum was a huge physical battle where we were giving up size and KGs to beat the band. Josh Wycherley had a torrid time with Du Toit initially as he struggled with the raw width and power of the man, especially in greasy conditions that saw him struggle to keep a grip on the massive tighthead. But, like in Clermont with Rabah Slimani, Josh stayed in the fight and adapted as the game went on. These boys don’t quit.
It looked as if the South Africans would have the edge in the maul too, especially with the rain as heavy as it was but we muscled up to them there too. Look at this, right before halftime. South Africa had a few penalties before this that made our defence here in danger of a penalty try or a yellow card that would destabilise the start of the second half. We gambled on going into the air with O’Donoghue and botched it. This is a South Africa try almost every single time.
What do we say to the God of 5m Mauls? Not today.
This recovery stop by Edwin Edogbo and Roman Salanoa is as good as you’ll see anywhere. South Africa have all the momentum, they are mauling into a lift pocket and we don’t get a solid counter-shove on until a step before the try line but when Edogbo and Salanoa get the lean in, it stops dead. The shock of it seems to dislodge the ball from the carrier and Munster can clear up the field. The crowd erupted. I erupted. Ruairi O’Hagan of Red FM erupted in the row behind me. That moment, as much as any other, won this game for Munster.
In the second half, Patterson and Healy broke open the South African defence with some individual brilliance to put the game out to 28-7 but, playing into the wind and rain, we knew there would be defending to do and man did we defend.
That last 35 minutes of defence is as satisfying as you’ll see. Bodies on the line, smart breakdown decisions, smart folds, riding our luck at times, sure, but grit, aggression and belief.
This is what it’s all about. Young lads playing for each other, for the jersey and for the fans who gave them everything they spent in energy back fortyfold.
We’ve been looking for a moment, a spark, that shows what this group of capable of and this game feels like that. It’s not a turning point in itself – that will only be visible at the end of the season – but it shows that the system can work under pressure against a formidable forward challenge, that we can stand up to massive carry pressure, roll with the punches and land a few of our own. We’ve shown that when the lineout holds we can hurt teams, even teams who play overlapping narrow blitzes that have traditionally killed us stone dead.
We also showed that we can dog out wins when it counts and when the stakes are as high as they can get in a mid-window challenge match. What people don’t get is that this game was incredibly meaningful because it’s Munster, it’s a national touring side and it’s in front of 40,000 people. All talk of “friendles” go out the gate when you’ve got huge men opposite you, the biggest crowd ever to attend a rugby game in Munster at your back and the wind and rain blowing in your face. Then it’s the Munster of old where your inner bad guy reveals itself to the world if it’s there.
What this game showed me is that we’ve got a lot of bad guys out there just waiting to show the world what they can do.
A special night, with a proper club and the Bad Guys.
Not a bad way to spend a wet Thursday night in Cork.
| Names | Rating |
|---|---|
| Josh Wycherley | ★★★★ |
| Diarmuid Barron | ★★★★★ |
| Roman Salanoa | ★★★★ |
| Edwin Edogbo | ★★★★★ |
| Kiran McDonald | ★★★★★ |
| Jack O'Donoghue | ★★★★ |
| John Hodnett | ★★★★★ |
| Gavin Coombes | ★★★★ |
| Paddy Patterson | ★★★★★ |
| Ben Healy | ★★★★★ |
| Simon Zebo | ★★★★ |
| Rory Scannell | ★★★★ |
| Antoine Frisch | ★★★★★ |
| Shane Daly | ★★★★★ |
| Mike Haley | ★★★★★ |
| Niall Scannell | ★★★ |
| Liam O'Connor | ★★★★ |
| Keynan Knox | ★★★★ |
| Cian Hurley | ★★★★ |
| Alex Kendellen | ★★★★ |
| Neil Cronin | ★★★ |
| Pa Campbell | ★★★ |
| Malakai Fekitoa | ★★★ |
