Road to Lansdowne

Shouting stars: Munster 33-9 Leinster, Musgrave Park, October 9th, 2005 The five-try rout was a harsh, yet eminently valuable, lesson for new Leinster coach Michael Cheika but it got a little messy in the immediate aftermath. Felipe Contepomi's comments on Newstalk FM, in particular, caused a stir. Given the week that's in it, we've decided to revisit them.

"I don't mind the crowd booing or shouting when you're going to take a kick, but the players? That's a lack of respect. It's difficult to speak when you lose because that didn't change the result. Munster were a much better side than us, but it really frustrated me in the first half when I had a penalty, the (Munster) players were shouting when I was going to kick. It's a lack of education or something. It's strange that their coach (Declan Kidney) is actually a teacher. Maybe he could put some of his knowledge into the players as well."

The Munster captain, Anthony Foley, replied: "That's a little strange. Obviously it's not nice when something like that happens. We have a code of silence for place kickers, but that happened at a stage of the game when the players and the crowd were getting frustrated with some of the decisions, and you want to put pressure on the opposition.

"I'm not sure what was said to him; I was standing under the posts. We were exposed to that last season when Paul Volley of Castres was swearing and shouting as Rog (O'Gara) was taking kicks. It's not something you want to see in the game. We were not too happy about how long he was taking with his kicks, but I'm sure it was a one-off occasion."

The Munster back row of Foley, Alan Quinlan and Denis Leamy devoured Eric Miller, Keith Gleeson and Jamie Heaslip. On Sunday, Cameron Jowitt is expected to start instead of Miller, while David Wallace is in for the injured Quinlan.

Battered and bruised, Leinster moved on. Within a couple of weeks, injured captain Brian O'Driscoll rejected Biarritz overtures and committed to the IRFU until after the next World Cup. By New Year's Eve the tables had been turned. Significant? We'll see on Sunday.

MUNSTER: S Payne; J Kelly, G Connolly, B Murphy, A Pitout; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, F Sheahan, F Pucciariello; D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll; A Quinlan, D Leamy, A Foley (capt). Replacements: I Dowling for Pitout (67 mins), D Wallace for Foley (68 mins), J Flannery for Sheahan, P Burke for O'Gara, T Hogan for Murphy (all 76 mins), F Roche for Pucciariello, F Murphy for Kelly (both 81 mins).

LEINSTER: G Dempsey; S Horgan, G D'Arcy, F Contepomi, D Hickie; C Warner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan, B Jackman, W Green; B Gissing, B Williams; E Miller, K Gleeson, J Heaslip. Replacements: B O'Riordan for O'Meara (5-15 mins and 62 mins), D Blaney for Jackman (15 mins), R McCormack for Heaslip (42-49 mins) and for Corrigan (82 mins), C Potts for Miller (49 mins), R Kearney for Warner (57 mins), K Lewis for D'Arcy (73 mins), D Dillon for Williams (82 mins). Sinbinned: Corrigan (40+1 mins).

Referee: Simon McDowell (IRFU).

In the event of a draw

It's not inconceivable that Sunday will produce a stalemate in normal time. That would trigger 20 minutes of extra time, which if inconclusive would leave the result dependent on tries scored. If that can't separate them, a place-kicking competition will follow.

Donncha O'Callaghan and Brian O'Driscoll have been down this road. The memories are mixed. They were part of the under-19 team that won the 1998 World Cup in France. In the quarter-finals Ireland cancelled a 17-point deficit to force a shoot-out with South Africa.

O'Driscoll was first up. Under the posts. A banker, surely. He recalled the moment: "I was the kicker for the team and had gone well all game, but I yanked it. The ball just shaved the post as it went wide. It was heartbreaking."

Ireland eventually lost - but then came the twist. Paul Wallace, the father of Ulster's Paddy, noticed one of the South Africa kickers had been substituted during the game. After a formal protest, Ireland were awarded the victory.

The rest, as they say . . .

Leinster leaders

Leinster and Munster have never crossed paths in the European Cup. No Irish teams have. But there is a slight history between the provinces: 121 games, to be exact.

The score is stacked heavily in Leinster's favour (77 wins to 33 with 11 draws) since the first meeting, at College Park (Trinity campus) on Monday, March 26th, 1877.

Leinster won that inaugural match, which was postponed from the Saturday because of inclement weather, by a goal to no score. The try and conversion were scored by Gussy Whitestone of Dublin University.

There was, incidentally, an F Foley in the Munster side, but we are fairly certain the present Munster captain is no relation.

Capped crusaders

There are three Irish players in line for the ERC Elite Award for 50 caps in this season's tournament, but each will need to reach the final to bring up the magic number. Marcus Horan, Girvan Dempsey and Malcolm O'Kelly are all on 48 European Cup appearances.

Felipe Contepomi is the competition's leading points (125) and try scorer (six). Ronan O'Gara is fourth with 82 points.

ERC 50-cap club

74 - Anthony Foley (Munster) (22 tries)

63 - Fabien Pelous (Dax 5, Toulouse 58)

61 - Shane Byrne (Leinster 55, Saracens 6), John Hayes (Munster)

60 - Chris Wyatt (Llanelli Scarlets)

59 - John Kelly (Munster), Yannick Bru (Toulouse), Graham Rowntree (Leicester Tigers), Peter Stringer (Munster)

58 - Christian Labit (Toulouse)

57 -Victor Costello (Leinster), Ronan O'Gara (Munster)

55 - Robin McBryde (Llanelli Scarlets), Reggie Corrigan (Leinster)