JOHNE MURPHY spoke with a quiet air of satisfaction following Munster’s narrow victory but his observations were framed by an acknowledgment that the Scarlets will travel to Thomond Park next Sunday aiming to redress the balance.
It was an assertion reinforced minutes earlier in the Munster dressingroom by captain Paul O’Connell, who stressed the importance of parking Saturday’s win in Llanelli and focusing sharply on removing any complacency.
Murphy explained: “Paulie (O’Connell) spoke after the game and he said we have to have a meeting on Tuesday; just the players because next week is a dangerous one. We have beaten them and we have the security of a home tie but we cannot let that get in our heads next weekend.
“We have to go out and perform. If we do that then we hopefully have a victory and we just need to keep winning in this group. We are three from three, maybe not the prettiest (rugby) but we like to keep our fans entertained in the last couple of minutes,” he smiled.
It was a mantra common to the Munster camp. O’Connell, a deserving winner of the man-of-the-match accolade, for an outstanding performance warned: “It’s a great position to be in but it’s not like we are running away with any games. Every one is a fight to the death and every game is a battle so, if you look at the score-lines, there is no fear of us getting ahead of ourselves.
“We know how close the games are, we know how small the margins have been for us to get the wins and we’ll be fully focused for the Scarlets again.
“When we have lost games in these back-to-backs, there is nothing like that loss and playing that team when you get a shot at retribution, to focus your mind.”
He knows the Irish province have plenty to work on in the interim after yet another fractured performance, quality-wise. They handed the Scarlets an eight-point start but as they have done in their previous two matches in the tournament found the wherewithal to successfully claw back the deficit.
O’Connell admitted: “We started really poorly, conceded an early try, an early penalty and we were probably lucky they missed two kicks at goal; we could have been in a lot of trouble. But we settled down then, we did the simple things well and were effective at what we wanted to do and it made a big difference.
“It’s a hell of a win for us, we are absolutely thrilled with it but we are aware it’s only half-time. I know from our point of view there is nothing like a loss to focus the mind so I’d imagine next week is going to be an incredibly tough game.
“I thought the pack was excellent. They (the frontrow) put them under a lot of pressure for us. We got a lot of yardage from our scrum and I think we got points from our scrum as well which is massive so full credit to them.
“I thought the pack was outstanding but I thought (Lifeimi) Mafi was brilliant for us as well. If he wasn’t carrying ball in the tight he was roaring at people to carry and work hard and get on their feet.”
The Munster captain also reserved a word for his outhalf Ronan O’Gara on the day in which he made his 100th appearance for Munster in the Heineken Cup. “It’s incredible to have a guy like that back there; his resilience is incredible.
“It’s a testimony to any young player. You’ll have your ups and your downs in your career and you have to believe in yourself and stick at it. He just seems to be getting better and better and enjoying it even more and I think that, for everyone in the squad, he is inspirational.”
