Munster 23 Northampton 21:WHO WRITES their scripts anyway? Even by Munster's standards, all the more so on one of those traditionally titanic Heineken Cup Saturday evenings as first the dusk and then the darkness descends over Limerick, this was remarkable.
Trailing by a point with three minutes remaining, they painstakingly worked their hearts and socks off to go through a phenomenal 40 phases, the crowd gulping collectively with every hint of a knock-on or an isolated runner going into contact, before, three and a half minutes into overtime, you-know-who went into the pocket.
Fully 45 metres out, and with the fat lady clearing her throat, the Cork maestro struck as sweet a drop goal as high and true as he’s ever hit one.
Nigel Owens, at the centre of yet another taut finish and protracted end game, milked the moment seemingly for an age before signalling Ronan O’Gara had delivered, as he has done more than anyone, in his team’s latest moment of need.
Talk about a cardiac team. But it just means so much to them, and for sheer cussedness, persistence, no little quality and their version of Michael Jordan at number 10, they possibly just about deserved this dramatic win which means they are not snookered from the opening weekend.
Their performance was not without its errors, and shorn of their two flyers, Keith Earls and Felix Jones, much of their running game failed to apply sufficient pressure on the Northampton defence. As in Ulster’s quarter-final last year, BJ Botha seemed to struggle a little with Soane Tonga’uiha at scrum time, and the Northampton lineout was accurate to the point of being impenetrable. But Munster’s work-rate at their rejuvenated maul, both offensive and defensive, at the breakdown and in defence, was magnificent, and in a cracker of a game, it had to be.
With the electric Ben Foden running from everywhere, Northampton put huge width and tempo on their game to repeatedly stretch Munster to breaking point, and had the ex-Blackrock and Leinster winger Vasily Artemyev not fumbled with the line at his mercy in the 64th minute, they probably would have won. Alas for the Russian, he also had begun the half by knocking-on the restart, affording Munster a gift-wrapped three-pointer when Callum Clark gathered from in front of him, and set up much of the endgame with another knock-on.
Leading from the front, in virtually every respect, was the awesome Paul O’Connell, whose work-rate, energy and intensity set the benchmark for others to follow. There was a telling moment early on when Courtney Lawes lined up the Munster captain for one of his big hits and was virtually bashed out of the way. It felt like a huge psychological moment, and for the likes of the three Heineken Cup debutants, Danny Barnes, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray, it must be like playing with their daddy.
The void left by having no Anthony Foley, Alan Quinlan or David Wallace for the first time in the tournament’s history was ably filled by O’Mahony, a natural footballer and impressive athlete with a bit of Munster dog in him, the ever honest James Coughlan, who was always in the coalface, and the equally prominent and, thankfully, disciplined Niall Ronan.
That said, no less than Donncha O’Callaghan, the introduction of Denis Leamy injected Munster’s carrying and recycling with enormous energy and composure. In that final pulsating drive alone Leamy must have carried seven or eight times, and the introduction of Tomás O’Leary’s experience was equally important in orchestrating that drive, as was his strength and carrying around the fringes.
This was an extraordinary, fluctuating rollercoaster of a game. Munster had been given the perfect start with a mauling try for Damien Varley, but Northampton responded ominously when Foden put Chris Ashton over from a counter-attack and Ryan Lamb tagged on two penalties for a 13-7 lead.
That had followed a telegraphed box kick by Murray – as much by his team-mates’ alignment as himself – and a poor chase, especially out wide by Barnes and Doug Howlett, who possibly could have pushed out on Ashton and trusted the defence inside him. Another poor kick by Coughlan and soft chase led to one of Lamb’s three-pointers too.
Thereafter though, Howlett was simply outstanding, making regular inroads into the Northampton defence when none seemed possible and leaving his line for a couple of enveloping hits on Ashton and Foden.
Much of Murray’s strength and crisp passing again bore the hallmark of a superstar in the making and, furthermore, thereafter his box-kicking had so much air and accuracy that Denis Hurley and co could apply pressure on Ashton and co with the chase.
The surprise was that Munster twice broke off mauls as they again rumbled toward the Northampton line, with Ronan’s try-scoring pass to Murray adjudged fractionally forward by the well-positioned Owens, but either side of half-time O’Gara landed two penalties and converted a superb try, conceived in large part by Barnes’ clever line off Murray’s carry and offload, and finished brilliantly by Howlett, who left Foden looking like a mannequin.
O’Gara was in his pomp in that second quarter, changing the tide with his tactical kicking, and landed penalties either side of Howlett’s try for a seemingly telling 13-point haul in no more than four minutes either side of the interval.
Despite another Lamb penalty, Munster might well have pushed on had they converted Hurley’s line break when put through a hole by Murray, or had the scrumhalf’s kick not cruelly rolled into touch in goal. Instead a James Downey try, after Owens appeared to miss a pass by Lamb drifting forward before it was deflected, set up that scarcely plausible endgame.
When Lamb kicked aimlessly downfield and Northampton began running down the clock inside their own 22, the thought occurred that they were inviting trouble. Munster, of course, never do, not until the final bell.
Never in doubt.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 7 mins: Varley try, O’Gara con 7-0; 10 mins: Ashton try, Lamb con 7-7; 13 mins: Lamb penalty 7-10; 21 mins: Lamb 7-13; 39 mins: O’Gara pen 10-13; 40 (+1) mins: Howlett try, O’Gara con 17-13 (half-time 17-13); 45 mins: O’Gara pen 20-16; 57 mins: Downey try 20-21; 80 (+4) mins: O’Gara drop goal 23-21.
MUNSTER: J Murphy; D Howlett, D Barnes, L Mafi, D Hurley; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, D Varley, B Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell (capt); P O’Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: D O’Callaghan for Ryan (55 mins), T O’Leary for Murray (62 mins), D Leamy for Coughlan (66 mins), W Chambers for Barnes (67 mins), J Hayes for Botha (71 mins).
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS: B Foden; C Ashton, J Clarke, J Downey, V Artemyev; R Lamb, L Dickson; S Tonga’uiha, D Hartley (capt), B Mujati; C Lawes, M Sorenson; C Clark, T Wood, R Wilson. Replacements: S Manoa for Lawes, P Dowson for Clark, M Roberts for Diockson (all 66 mins), A Waller for Tonga’uiha (69 mins), P Doran-Jones for Mujati, G Pisi for Foden (73 mins).
Referee: N Owens (Wales).
