Munster bid au revoir to an era

RUGBY:ALL GOOD things come to an end. This felt like the end of something alright, and because it was something special that made it more profound. Munster have given us unforgettable days along the way, but after their unbroken dozen years in the knock-out stages (a record liable never to be equalled), yesterday here in the throbbing Stade Felix Mayol it was time to say merci and au revoir.

In truth they comfortably came off second best to Toulon in front of a baying 14,800 crowd, beaten in most facets of the game on the way to a 32-16 defeat which, in terms of the Cup, makes next week’s game at home to London Irish their first dead rubber in over 12 years.

“We’re absolutely shattered to be out of the Heineken Cup campaign, especially after such a disappointing performance,” admitted coach Tony McGahan.

The highly voluble and visible Toulon club president Mourad Boudjellal had built this game up as the biggest in their recent history, and, given the context, that made the performance their best in recent times.

This is a proper rugby town in the south of France where even the buses welcomed the Munster supporters, about 2,000 of whom mixed in good humour with the locals en route to the ground in the heart of the town as the sun bounced off the sea in the marina.

You didn’t have to speak French to understand the word on most lips as the crowd made their way to the ground: Wilkinson.

In temperatures of 15 degrees, the home support even applauded a pre-match rendition of Stand Up and Fight.

But all hospitality temporarily and predictably ceased with a vengeance for 80 minutes of often feisty, edgy rugby.

Fired by the memory of their 45-18 defeat in Thomond Park last October, Toulon more than matched Munster in the physical collisions and, with Jonny Wilkinson especially pulling the strings, also played the smarter cup rugby.

By contrast, Munster played too much rugby too deep, and much of it laterally, and – cracking a little under the pressure Toulon put them under – were error-prone.

The cup-final-like occasion and febrile atmosphere also demanded cool heads. But while Munster could argue about some of the decisions by referee Dave Pearson – especially the yellow card handed out to Ronan O’Gara – the sinbinning of Donncha O’Callaghan in the 33rd minute for taking out Rudi Wulf with a high arm off the ball was indicative of the way they did not keep their emotions in check sufficiently.

In the lock’s absence, Toulon turned the screw, building an already ominous 16-6 advantage into a relatively unassailable 29-9 lead. Wilkinson was tormentor-in- chief, profiting from Munster’s ill-discipline and troubled scrum to land eight kicks out of 10 for a 22-point haul.

“The first thing was our discipline,” said McGahan. “Thirteen points with two men off the field and a couple of penalties off scrums certainly added to the scoreline.

“I think most of all the lack of accuracy in trying to put anything together. I thought we were very frantic at times, especially in the first half. Our ball dried up a bit from the set-piece, so we really needed to make sure we controlled the ball and play it in the right areas of the field, but unfortunately we weren’t able to do that.”

“We needed to tighten things up at times and we didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to do that. We needed to show some patience with regard to getting ourselves into the game away from home and being able to outwork the opposition, which is one of our strong traits. But when you are playing from side to side, a little bit frantic, trying to get something to happen, it’s difficult.”

McGahan spoke of fronting up next week and then using the Six Nations break, adding: “There is the Magners League, but certainly to be competing for just one trophy is an unusual situation for everyone concerned.”

Inevitably, this will be seen as the end of an era, with Munster now obliged to rebuild more than any time in the last dozen years.

“That’s certainly a very pertinent question and certainly a very realistic one. This group has gone through a lot of time together and we are certainly making changes to the playing group, and I think that has been well evident over the last two years. But, again, we need to deal with where we are at, and we need to make sure to get results for the rest of the year.”

Coupled with London Irish’s surprising, 24-12 win over the Ospreys (their first of any kind in 11 matches) in Reading yesterday, Toulon thus advanced to the last eight in their debut Heineken Cup season, with the Ospreys eliminated along with Munster given the two best runners-up slot in the quarter-finals are out of reach. Both, though, can still advance to the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Indeed, Munster weren’t the only team to have their fate sealed over the weekend.

Unusually for the cup, much across the six groups was resolved over the penultimate weekend, leaving little in the way of issues to be resolved or major head-to-heads. Following on from Northampton having won Pool One on Friday night, and Leinster joining them on Saturday from Pool Two, a 76th-minute drop goal by Ruaidhri Jackson completed a shock 20-10 win for Glasgow over Wasps in Pool Six yesterday which knocked out the two-time English winners of the tournament and ensured Toulouse progressed.

This also makes next Sunday afternoon’s finale between Wasps and Toulouse something of a dead rubber, save for the final standings and deciding whether Toulouse earn a home quarter-final.

This also had significance for Ulster in Pool Four in one of only two pools which will go down to the wire, for it means a win in Aironi next Saturday of any hue will guarantee them a place in the knock-out stages for the first time since they won the trophy in 1999 as one of the two best runners-up.

They trail Biarritz on the head-to-head record in their meetings after Saturday’s 9-6 win in Ravenhill, although they could still top the pool if they can better Biarritz’s match result at home to Bath next Saturday.

The other pool which will almost certainly provide one of the best runners-up is in Pool Five, in which Leicester and Perpignan are tied on 17 points with the Scarlets two points adrift. Perpignan host the Scarlets in what amounts to next weekend’s only winner-takes-all, with Leicester best placed to qualify one way or the other when entertaining Treviso.

Although the world will still be spinning on its axis, Munster won’t be there with them.