Munster put backs into job

European Cup Pool Four/Munster 41 Bourgoin 23: The word from inside the camp was that Munster had found themselves quite a talent, that team-mates had been struck by Lifiemi Mafi's lightning footwork and pace on the training ground. So, with the game already up for Bourgoin, a buzz of anticipation greeted Mafi's first Heineken European Cup appearance, alongside Andy Kyriacou, in the 71st minute, and with his first touch the 24-year-old ex-Taranaki man did something he might well regret.

A gasp went around the old citadel as blinding footwork and real acceleration off the mark saw him straighten through two defenders; a Lomu-like hand-off saw off a third and a stylish inside pass nearly put David Wallace over.

Kyriacou, on loan from Saracens and Ireland-qualified through Sligo-born maternal grandparents, plunged over off the recycle but all pats on the back and cheers were directed toward Mafi. He can stay all right, but how will he follow that?

Mafi's richly promising cameo was but one of many pluses on an evening when Munster liberally dispersed six tries among forwards and backs, albeit allowing for passages when their ambitious, high-tempo, ball-in-hand game didn't click.

By contrast, Bourgoin went to the air, despite evidence it might have been rewarding to run at Munster more - one superb blind-side break and sweeping crossfield move almost leading to a try for the underused Salesi Finau. The man to deny him then was John Kelly - playing the rugby of his life.

Kelly, along with Shaun Payne, solid as the proverbial rock again, magnificently dealt with a testing aerial bombardment from Benjamin Boyet and co, assisted as they were by Ian Dowling and the diligent, retreating red troops (Alan Quinlan once taking successive up-and-unders).

That, and a resolute, physical defensive effort provided the platform for eventual dominance. Munster were particularly impenetrable around the fringes where The Bull, John Hayes, might soon also earn the monicker The Wall.

Munster's stereotypical forward-oriented game has long been a thing of the past - which is why the chants of "Boring, boring Munster" by Leinster fans a month ago were so misplaced - but here one could rarely recall a more compelling performance by the Munster backs.

In a town that eats, sleeps and most certainly drinks rugby, they were the talk of Limerick long into the night.

Key components in all this, and perhaps the most encouraging aspects of the win, were the early and inevitable first shoots of Barry Murphy's return to his best. Viewed in that light, the key moment was arguably a move - nearing the half-hour - that didn't trouble the scoreboard.

Following another terrific catch on the run by Kelly and the ensuing recycle, Munster ran the ball from their own 22, where Trevor Halstead, regularly bursting the blue Bourgoin defensive line in a vintage performance, freed his hands in the tackle for Denis Leamy to release Murphy.

He escaped the clutches of a defender to make the first big break of his comeback. Although the move didn't yield a score directly, the prodigal Mike Prendergast was binned for tugging the supporting Leamy off the ball.

In Prendergast's 10 minutes off the pitch, Munster moved from 8-6 to 20-6.

First Kelly made the incision off a trademark flat pass by Ronan O'Gara off quick ball for the supporting Dowling to score; then a big hit by Hayes and Wallace's pilfering of ball in the tackle enabled Paul O'Connell to send Halstead away, Murphy taking a sharp, supporting, inside line to score from the offload to augment a cleverly worked blindside try off a lineout for Frankie Sheahan earlier on.

It was as if with one bound Murphy had been set free, and it appeared to filter through the rest of the team. O'Gara, whose maturity and class had shone through the previous week, is utterly on top of his game and looks to be hitting the peak of his career. No less than having Brian O'Driscoll to hit in a green jersey, a fit-again Murphy in red allows O'Gara's game to flourish.

Here, to accentuate the impressive width to their game, Munster also applied some more depth than they had of late and made even more employment of Halstead as first receiver to maximise the passing game of O'Gara, at times operating as a quasi second five-eighth, to outflank Bourgoin's rush defence.

Munster - unperturbed by a breakaway try for Florin Denos when Quinlan forced one pass too many - made the cumulative call to go to the corner; a patient lineout drive culminated in O'Callaghan peeling off for a try to restore the natural order of things. Always handy to have Plan A up your jumpers, so to speak.

Confidence thereafter flowed through their offloading game, Halstead, again, and Murphy combining for the deserving Kelly to score the fifth.

Cue Mafi's late cameo. The faithful were watching the Munster Globetrotters.

Bourgoin never rolled over to have their bellies tickled, Prendergast later confirming that the away dressingroom felt they'd played much better than against Cardiff the previous week.

As an aside, Boyet has a physical presence, a classically French running and distribution game, and a huge boot, while his restarts hang in the air for an age.

The one major concern about him is his flakiness when the going gets tough; witness the uninterested, disheartened figure in Lansdowne Road last year against Leinster.

Not here though; his well taken late try and touchline conversion for an 18-point haul (his only miss coming from his own half) suggested a new maturity, and he could well be the solution to what has curiously often been, and remains, a problem position for the French.

And in light of Frederic Michalak's unconvincing kicking game and current injury, not to mention the lack of real alternatives, Boyet looks worth a punt in France's autumn Tests against New Zealand and Argentina.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: Boyet pen 0-3; 8: Sheahan try 5-3; 18: Boyet pen 5-6; 20: O'Gara pen 8-6; 31: Dowling try 13-6; 36: Murphy try, O'Gara con 20-6 (half-time 20-6); 50: Denos try, Boyet con 20-13; 56: O'Callaghan try, O'Gara con 27-13; 61: Kelly try, O'Gara con 34-13; 75: Kyriacou try, O'Gara con 41-16; 85: Boyet try and con 41-23.

MUNSTER: S Payne; J Kelly, B Murphy, T Halstead, I Dowling; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt); A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements: F Pucciariello for Horan (39 mins to half-time), M O'Driscoll for Quinlan (62 mins), A Kyriacou for Sheahan, L Mafi for Halstead (both 71 mins), J O'Sullivan for O'Connell, T O'Leary for Stringer, J Manning for O'Gara (all 77 mins).

BOURGOIN: S Laloo; D Janin, G Bousses, S Finau, R Coetzee; B Boyet, M Prendergast; O Milloud, B Cabello, O Sourgens; C Del-Fava, B Williams; A Petrilli, M Rennie, J Bonnaire (capt). Replacements: F Denos for Janin (15 mins), P Cardinali for Sourgens, J Frier for Petrilli (both 54 mins), W Jooste for Rennie (64 mins), P Peyron for Milloud (72 mins), J Genevois for Cabello, M Campeggia for Prendergast (both 78 mins). Sinbinned: Prendergast (29 mins).

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England).

RESULTS SO FAR

Bourgoin 5 Cardiff 13; Leicester 19 Munster 21. Munster 41 Bourgoin 23. Cardiff 17 Leicester 21.

REMAINING FIXTURES

Dec 8th: Bourgoin v Leicester. Dec 10th: Cardiff v Munster. Dec 16th: Munster v Cardiff; Leicester v Bourgoin. Jan 12th-14th: Bourgoin v Munster; Leicester v Cardiff. Jan 19th: Cardiff v Bourgoin; Munster v Leicester.

Pool Four

P W D L F A B Pts

Munster 2 2 0 0 62 42 1 9

Cardiff 2 1 0 1 30 26 1 5

Leicester 2 1 0 1 40 38 1 5

Bourgoin 2 0 0 2 28 54 0 0