Mullins' Munster magic makes all the difference

The bulk of 29 players played well in awful conditions but one guy was on a different stratosphere. Rare indeed is an AIB League match effectively decided by the performance of an individual, and rarer still is the day when everybody playing or in attendance uniformly agrees, but on Saturday at Clifford Park it was one of those days.

An irreverent young Terenure side had been given first use of the wind and taken the game to their more grizzled hosts. Their line-out went well, taking a huge chunk of the Young Munster throws for good measure; their 21-year-old props embellished their reputations some more by holding their own against the Clohessys and 14 minutes after the resumption they had deservedly re-asserted their 10-point interval lead.

The Young Munster pack - clearly benefiting from the return of Peter Clohessy and the all-action Ian Dillon - had managed a fair few rumbles in the loose, but there had been little cutting edge behind them, as evidenced by the dozen first-half handling errors. The natives had become restless and the only way the hosts seemed likely to win was by grinding their way there. Cue Mike Marsigh-Mullins.

With out-half Eamonn Buckley running laterally and the centres Leo Doyle and Mike Lynch making decoy runs, Mullins suddenly starting hitting the line with unerring timing and explosiveness.

Four times in about 14 minutes, he cut through Terenure's line as cleanly as a knife through butter; another time he took a garryowen on the run and turned defence into attack with his ability to break out of a tackle.

On the first occasion, Mullins drew Girvan Dempsey and sent Lynch gleefully away with an exquisite long flat, left-to-right pass. Although Ger Earls (whose support play is now flourishing under Young Munster's more expansive approach) failed to augment Mullins' next break, Mullins soon came knocking once more.

This time he offloaded in the tackle for the looping Lynch, who had Tom Cregan in support 30 metres out for an excellent try. The prolific winger's difficult conversion and subsequent penalty gave Young Munster sufficient breathing space to keep Terenure's gamey late flurry largely inside half-way. That, effectively, was that.

"His timing into the line was just fantastic," purred Young Munster coach Packo Fitzgerald afterwards. "He was the difference between the two teams. They just weren't able to cope with his explosive power coming into the line." Mullins' virtuoso performance was given added intrigue in that it came against the one recognised full back in the Irish squad, Dempsey, and in front of the watching Donal Lenihan. Injuries and a lack of runs with Leinster has meant Dempsey is not in the form he was when first broke into the Irish team over a year ago, and his recent outings for Terenure have not shown anything different.

Dempsey did have the satisfaction of taking Mullins on the outside early in the second-half, but generally didn't have his counterpart's presence. Mullins just wanted the ball more, vacating his full-back berth with a long cross-field run as the ball was buried in a ruck inside half-way, and then calling for the ball from scrum-half Mike Prendergast in the build-up to the decisive second try.

Fitzgerald, naturally, wouldn't hesitate in playing Mullins at fullback next Saturday, but Mullins himself seemed more hesitant, and Lenihan, along with Warren Gatland and Eddie O'Sullivan, may be more hesitant still. On this evidence, it wouldn't even be an issue, but then an AIL game is dodgy evidence to begin with. Still, a fascinating one.

Scoring sequence: 22 minutes: Lynagh penalty 0-3; 26: Sheriff try, Lynagh conversion 0-10. 48: Cregan penalty 3-10; 54: Lynagh penalty 3-13; 56: Lynch try 8-13; 63: Cregan try and converion 1513; 67: Cregan penalty 18-13.

Young Munster: M Mullins; J Carey, M Lynch, L Doyle, T Cregan; E Buckley, M Prendergast; D Clohessy, M Hayes, P Clohessy, M O'Halloran, P O'Connell, I Dillon, M te Pau, G Earls. Replacements: B Buckley for O'Halloran (57 mins).

Terenure College: G Dempsey; M O'Kelly, S Cullen, M Smyth, D Lynagh; R Governey, D Hegarty; S Barretto, J Blaney, J Campbell, R Sheriff, D Quinn, C Potts, E Miller, P O'Malley. Replacements: J Sharpe for Potts (62 mins), D Murphy for O'Kelly (64 mins).

Referee: D Tyndall (Leinster).