'We had to up our physicality'

MUNSTER v LEINSTER PLAYER REACTION: GERRY THORNLEYgets the views of some Munster players who badly 'wanted to get one over' on their old rivals

CASUALLY IF appropriately dressed in combat trousers, Damien Varley came into the post-match interview room in Thomond Park, which somehow still seemed to be shaking from the shuddering events of earlier, and called it as it was.

“We have been working towards this game for a long time, we wanted to get one over them. Five defeats against Leinster, our old rivals, it’s a tough record and we were determined to come away with a victory.

“Leinster started very physically and we weren’t very physical in the first half,” he admitted. “We recognised that at half-time and came out fighting in the second half. We had to up our physicality and that showed in the second half,” he added.

You can’t buy or beat experience on the bench either. Whether introduced in the first or 79th minute, they know what to do. Munster’s bench boasted over 1,000 caps for their province, including a quintet of Irish internationals with 888 Munster caps and 340 for their country, with Paul Warwick also winning his 90th Munster cap.

From Warwick’s cameo at the start of the second half to Mick O’Driscoll seamlessly replacing Paul O’Connell and right through to the barnstorming impact of Denis Leamy and Peter Stringer’s composed cameo, they all made an impact. It must be of huge comfort to those on the pitch.

“Yeah, we’ve been saying it for a while,” said James Coughlan, “it’s the first time in a long time you can’t select a Munster team and that’s a fantastic reflection of the squad. Nobody is assured of selection, everyone’s fighting for the jersey. No matter what the position, there’s quality. So if you have a bad game, you know there’s someone who can jump into the jersey.”

Both lauded the Munster set-pieces but the key, they agreed, was simply the physicality of their second-half display. “They were sending more to the breakdown, we were trying to win them with one or two when maybe we needed three or four,” said Coughlan. “Maybe you’d suffer third phase as a result but the first thing was to win the first phase and you could play after that. We built a momentum and reversed what had happened in the first half.”

“It was all that was good about Irish rugby tonight and there was fierce passion, skill level and a determination to win,” said Ronan O’Gara, acknowledging Leinster were possibly the best team in Europe. “It was getting to the stage that the supporters demand that we win. I don’t know if we’d be able to walk the streets tomorrow, especially if you lived in Limerick. We know that and we thrive off that, the supporters were magnificent.”