RUGBY/ HEINEKEN CUP:MIXED BAGS in terms of performances and mixed feelings over the results left the Heineken Cup qualification hopes of both Munster and Leinster very much in the air. They at least remain authors of their own destiny after Leinster clung on grimly for a hard-earned bonus point away to Clermont Auvergne in a 20-13 defeat to remain top of Pool Two, while Munster did likewise in Pool Three after registering a 22-16 win over the Ospreys. On such taut occasions does the Heineken Cup keep everyone on a knife edge.
The fallout for Munster was arguably the more unnerving. They appeared well set to press on and secure a bonus point win of their own when Johne Murphy crossed for their third try in the 63rd minute to put them 22-13 ahead. That they didn’t was due to a Dan Biggar penalty and a red card for Paul O’Connell which left them hanging on at the end and facing the possibility of their inspirational captain being suspended.
Scarcely in the infancy of his comeback, and making just his second appearance for Munster since last January, O’Connell’s desperation to make up for lost time may or may not have contributed to him lashing out while being tugged from behind by Jonathan Thomas. In the process, he caught Thomas in the face with his forearm.
O’Connell had his back turned to Thomas and it didn’t look like a red card at the time, but as ever slow-motion replays make instinctive offences look worse. The Lions captain had been on the pitch for 10 minutes but was then obliged to cut a familiarly frustrated figure for the final 10 minutes.
As to what O’Connell had made of the incident, Munster coach Tony McGahan commented: “I haven’t talked to him yet, I’ll let him cool down.” He then added: “We only had a brief look at it. We really haven’t looked at in depth enough to give any real comment. I suppose we saw what everyone else saw, a holding onto the jersey, a reaction towards that. We’ll have to give a bit more thought to that but I suppose you have a quick glance at those things and then we needed to move on. It couldn’t serve any purpose for us to get caught up in that while the game was going on.”
Asked what he felt from the stands when he saw Christophe Berdos brandish the red card at O’Connell, McGahan quipped: “I was hoping I was colour blind to be honest. As I said shock really, we thought it was going to be a big ask but we just had to get on with it and deal with it.“
Nevertheless, the Munster coach conceded there was now the worrying possibility of O’Connell being suspended. “Absolutely, so again we’ll have to let that process take course and we’ll abide by whatever decision is given.”
O’Connell will face a disciplinary hearing either tomorrow or Wednesday.
The Ospreys forwards coach, Jonathan Humphreys said: “Firstly, I think it’s true to say that Paul O’Connell is not a dirty player by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a very similar thing that happened to Gavin Henson and unfortunately he got 16 weeks for an offence like that.”
Hansen’s suspension was actually for 10 weeks when he was deemed to have elbowed the Leicester prop Alex Moreno, but in any event Humprheys added: “We play against Paul a lot. We’ve got a lot of admiration for him as a player, he’s a very iconic figure here, so it’s disappointing for him he could miss a large chunk of the season now.” Humphreys also confirmed that Thomas was replaced “because he was unfit to carry on”.
As with Racing Metro’s win on English soil against Saracens, which prompted that bizarre and somewhat childish post-match interview with Brendan Venter and keeps the French team very much alive and kicking in Pool Two, so Toulon’s 19-13 win at London Irish yesterday keeps them in the shake-up two points adrift of Munster in Pool Three.
Nevertheless, Leinster’s bonus point in Clermont keeps them one point ahead of the French team in Pool Two, and if they can press that advantage home in the Aviva Stadium next Saturday, they will remain in the driving seat.
Joe Schmidt was grateful for that much and proud of a match-day squad studded with young home grown products. “Yeah, but as you guys implied it will hinge on a few key injuries. I think there are some key guys already missing and some others we would dearly love to have. That is no disrespect to the other guys; you get 20-year-olds like Dominic Ryan coming off the bench in a cauldron like this and doing a really good job. You get young guys like Eoin O’Malley and Fergus McFadden playing out of position and really standing up against some of the best players in Europe.”
There remains a chance, albeit against the odds, that Brian O’Driscoll will return next week. “We’ll hopefully find out on Tuesday; he’s seeing the specialist on Tuesday so we’re hopeful we’ll have a bit more information at that time. But to be honest we’ll give him until the captain’s run on Friday and if it that’s long before we have to give him a bit of contact, he is a real talisman for us and he is a voice of reason. Eoin O’Malley would be pretty unlucky if Drico becomes available because he’s done a damn fine job.”
Both Leinster and Munster face an anxious wait on the availability of their respective Lions’ captains and totems.
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