Perpignan 14 Munster 37:AS STATEMENTS of intent and performances go, this was right up there in the epic echelons of Munster's many escapades abroad. They shredded all pre-match forecasts and doubts about their well-being with an utterly ruthless display. Much hungrier around the pitch, especially for loose balls on the deck, they kept throwing themselves into contact and the breakdown until finally breaking the Catalans' famed spirit completely.
It was hard to single out individuals, but amid the masterclass, Paul O’Connell led from the front with a virtuoso performance and David Wallace wasn’t far behind. The likes of Denis Fogarty and Tomás O’Leary had big games too, Ronan O’Gara pulled the strings and kicked superbly, as did Paul Warwick in a completely assured performance at the back.
In a fractious bad-tempered match, Munster might have kept their heads a little more but it was virtually impossible to do so. With all but the 1,600 or so of the Red Army in the 14,282 crowd attempting to referee the match, the touchjudges were about as useful as suncream in an igloo, missing virtually everything they should have adjudicated on, be it knock-ons, forward passes or the origins of scraps off the ball.
Aside from a rash of penalties in the second quarter, after a strong start, the scrum became a big issue for Munster, but otherwise they had few real concerns. Munster went to the air regularly, in particularly targeting right-winger Christophe Manas.
A tad ominously, their first attempted lineout maul was driven backwards, whereas Perpignan’s first drive rumbled forward to the vocal delight of the crowd as, in between times, David Mele opened the scoring.
Nonetheless, Munster were having much the better of things territorially and in terms of possession. A clever kick by Mafi into the open spaces vacated by Manas, when he knocked on in a counter-attack, led to a good Munster drive and an equalising O’Gara penalty.
The first threat came from Mele’s break from an offload by Marius Toncu, but Wallace snuffed out the danger by tackling and bouncing to his feet to win a turnover penalty. Soon he was snaffling loose ball on the deck and then left Tincu for dead with a devilish sidestep.
A good kick through behind Manas by Paul Warwick led to another lineout on the Perpignan 22; Paul O’Connell doing wonderfully to claim an overthrow and rumbling forward. It was Alan Quinlan’s clever blindside carry, beating a man and passing overhead to Denis Hurley which had Munster knocking on the door. Though Manas made that tackle, and both Wallace and Warwick were held up inches short, Fogarty burrowed over for O’Gara to make it 10-3.
Nearing the half-hour, the officials missed a blatant forward pass in the build-up to Quinlan tugging Farid Sid off the ball, but though Mele was wide with that kickable penalty compensation came from the restart when referee Pearson adjudged Wallace to have come in from the side. It looked a classic home-town decision, and after O’Gara was adjudged to have slightly overcooked a penalty to the corner, Pearson then adjudged Wallace went high on Maxime Mermoz for Mele to land his third penalty.
The officials also missed a blatant cheap shot by Yohan Vivalda on John Fogarty and, instead, almost inevitably, Pearson awarded Perpignan a penalty on the Munster put-in when the front-rows popped. To the audible disbelief of the Catalans though, Mele missed the routine penalty with the last kick of the half to leave Munster a point ahead.
Withstanding an early post-interval assault, Munster extended their lead after Burger kicked out on the full and O’Leary made a superb break off a lineout drive, Perpignan infringing for O’Gara to land the penalty. A frenetic spell of end-to-end play culminated in what might best be called a flying head-butt by Jerome Schuster on a prone Denis Leamy. It should have been red, but was deemed yellow and O’Gara made it 16-9.
Within moments, O’Gara was ridiculously yellow-carded for tackling Mermoz before he received the ball – which was at worst a marginal penalty.
Undeterred, Warwick moved to outhalf, Hurley to fullback, Earls to the wing and Wallace to midfield. Munster kept coming, and were helped by a fumble and then a slick kick to touch by David Marty. Picking and jamming off the ensuing lineout, their patience and ball presentation was exemplary. Wian du Preez made two carries before O’Leary spun it blind where Warwick put Hurley over in the corner with a flat skip pass and then landed the touchline conversion to boot.
Munster were temporarily discommoded again when Mele scampered in by the corner flag, but swiftly came knocking again. Donncha Ryan brilliantly scragged Nicolas Durand and O’Leary won the ball on the deck to set up an attacking ruck, from which Wallace ran a decoy and Jean de Villiers blitzed through the heart of the Perpignan defence.
The bench made a big impact, and when Perpignan turned over an attempt to run from their own line, O’Gara grubbered through delightfully for Doug Howlett to score untouched and unbothered.
SCORING SEQUENCE:5 mins: Mele pen 3-0; 14: O'Gara pen 3-3; 24: Fogarty try, O'Gara con 3-10; 31: Mele pen 6-10; 35: Mele pen 9-10; (half-time 9-10); 44: O'Gara pen 9-13; 48: O'Gara pen 9-16; 59: Hurley try, Warwick con 9-23; 67: Guirado try 14-28; 69: de Villiers try, O'Gara con 14-30; 80: Howlett try, O'Gara con 14-37.
PERPIGNAN:P Burger; F Sid, D Marty, M Mermoz, C Manas; G Hume, D Mele; J Schuster, M Tincu, N Mas (capt), O Olibeau, R Tchale Watchou, Y Vivalda, B Guiry, O Tonita. Replacements:G Guirado for Tincu, P Freshwater for Schuster, J Porical for Manas, Y Parent for Tonita (all 60 mins), N Durand for Mele (68 mins), R Alvarez Kairelis for Vivalda, J-P Grandclaude for Marty (both 71 mins), K Pulu for Mas (74 mins). Sinbinned:Schuster (48-58 mins).
MUNSTER:P Warwick; D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, Denis Hurley; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; W du Preez, D Fogarty, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell [capt], A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements:D Varley for Fogarty, D Ryan for Quinlan (both 60 mins), J de Villiers for Mafi (62 mins), T Buckley for Hayes (68 mins), M O'Driscoll for O'Callaghan, P Stringer for O'Leary (both 76 mins), N Ronan for Wallace (77 mins). Sinbinned:O'Gara (53-63 mins).
Referee:Dave Pearson (England)
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