Plenty to work on but plenty to work with

It was a bad start, but Munster and Leinster have been here before and know they can turn things around

W ATCHING EVENTS unfold at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday evening, the thought occurred – not for the first time – that however much the Heineken Cup has been good for Irish rugby and Munster rugby, the latter have more than paid their dues. Once again, no other game in the opening weekend enlivened the tournament more than the one featuring the two-time winners and the Red Army.

Already taking up more than their official allocation of 3,000, experienced Red Army foot-soldiers could scarcely recall so many desperate entreaties for tickets on the opening weekend of the competition. Two alert publicans put up large screens near the ground and tickets were apparently being bought for as much as £250 (€267) outside the ground.

Inside, everything about the occasion encapsulated what is good about the tournament. At one point, as the main congregations of Munster fans sought to drown out When the Saints Go Marching In, they were actually in conflict, one singing The Fields, the other Stand Up and Fight.

Given how little rugby several of the players had, it was a remarkable they were able to rescue a bonus point. The defeat still leaves them with little room for manoeuvre, but it’s not quite as cataclysmic as it might have been.

For starters, they’re entitled to take encouragement from a vastly improved performance on the previous week. They’ve also been here before, having overcome defeats in openers away to English sides to qualify for the knock-out stages on three occasions, and indeed going on to win the tournament two and four seasons ago.

The opening results suggest the Italians may not be the soft touch they have been of late, and the prospect of back-to-back matches with Perpignan in December is still a daunting one, especially the away leg in round four. Whatever about Franklin’s Gardens (where Northampton have lost once in 37 games), Stade Aime Giral (where Perpignan have lost once in 35) is even more of an imposing citadel. Then again, Munster’s record in the Heineken Cup at Thomond Park (one defeat in 34) isn’t too slovenly either.

Viewed in that light, Perpignan’s defeat has to be viewed as good for both Munster and Northampton, though the French champions will be in a vengeful mood when they welcome the Saints to Catalonia next Friday night.

Munster can only get better, but there are still some issues for Tony McGahan and co to address, not least their clearing out at the breakdown, their discipline and the balance of the backline, where Jean de Villiers is still settling in and some of the edge appears to have gone from Lifeimi Mafi’s game.

Leinster’s bonus-point defeat probably leaves them with less margin for error, not least because it was at home. Of course, they too have overcome such a hurdle before, notably four years ago when losing at home to Bath. They would even lose away to Bourgoin as well – at which point they could be backed at 80 to 1 to win the cup – before scoring 17 tries and 122 points in beating Glasgow, Bath and Toulouse en route to their first semi-final showdown with Munster.

One suspects they cannot afford the luxury of losing away to Brive on Saturday evening, and their attacking game is a long way from those potent days of yore. Even in the wake of beating Munster last Saturday week, the nagging thought remained that it might well have been a much closer game but for two moments of utter brilliance from yer man in the number 13 jersey.

Faced by a London Irish blitz defence that could push up from in front of the hindmost foot prematurely and with impunity, not to mention the free-for-all at the breakdown, Leinster could perhaps have adopted a deeper line for variety with a view to going round there. One wonders why they persisted with going to the tail and kicked for touch as often as they did, and if Malcolm O’Kelly wasn’t to be sprung from the bench on Friday night, when would he ever be? As pertinent though, has been the relative lack of an off-loading game and, by extension, their struggle to recycle the ball at the breakdown.

Too often their runners become isolated, a prime example being when Rob Kearney was brought into the line off a lineout near half-way in the prelude to Ryan Lamb’s first penalty.

Forwards are looking to take the ball on too often, and it’s too slow, and when the backs take it up, they lack support runners.

Save for Shane Jennings, there isn’t much in the way of link play between backs and forwards. Leinster are looking a little too structured.

They could do worse than take a leaf out of Ulster’s book. There, the Ulster creators in chief, Ian Humphreys and Paddy Wallace, are just that. The forwards, notably Stephen Ferris, are there to make the hard yards but they don’t clutter things up as much, while at the same time the ball-carrier is rarely as isolated, with support pods arriving for the offload or to clear out.

Ulster’s chances of progress for the first time since they won the trophy in 1999 will hinge to a large degree on whether they can win in Edinburgh on Saturday, but it doesn’t look beyond them.

PS: Shame on the Munster fan in Northampton on Saturday night who informed a Leinsterman that he was still happy in the wake of his team’s defeat – because “Leinster had lost” the night before. It may be a minority, but it’s an increasing minority, and things are becoming petty on both sides.

Take the Leinster fans who booed Ronan O’Gara’s name when it was called out before the kick-off in the RDS last Saturday week. One doubts they were booing him when he landed the Slam-winning drop goal in Cardiff last March.

Maybe it’s because I’m an Arsenal fan, but the chants “Same Old Munster, Always Cheating” or “Boring, Boring Munster” grate too, not only because they are unoriginal and clearly imported from Old Trafford and Anfield, but because they are inaccurate.

All of which is especially ironic given Declan Kidney helped bridge this provincial rivalry so memorably last season, as he had done with the Limerick-Cork divide.

Anyway, three Irish wins coming up . . .

gthornley@irishtimes.com