Worries yes, but life in Munster dog yet

ON RUGBY:Talk of a crisis in the red ranks is going too far, but there are obvious areas the province's brains trust must address – starting with player discipline, writes GERRY THORNLEY

FOR THE last dozen years arguably the biggest single comfort blanket to be wrapped around Irish rugby was Munster’s enduring competitiveness in the Heineken Cup. If all else failed, if the other three provinces were evicted at the group stages or Ireland under-achieved, there was always Munster to keep the Irish flames flickering into April.

But, for the first time since Brian Ashton was the Ireland coach, the Munster contingent which will link up with the rest of the Six Nations squad will do so knowing their involvement in the Heineken Cup is over. The feeling will be altogether more hollow now.

Another difference is Leinster and, most probably Ulster, will have Heineken Cup quarter-finals. Leinster know a victory of any kind in Paris against Racing Metro on Friday night will ensure a lucrative home quarter-final.

Currently the third-ranked pool leaders, conceivably that could mean a home tie against Toulon.

Helpfully or not, Racing are away to Clermont the following Wednesday in the Top 14, and with six more Top 14 matches on the Thursday it will be interesting to see how the French clubs approach next weekend.

Ulster also know a win of any hue in Aironi will ensure a place in the last eight, and that if they better Biarritz’s result at home to Bath, they will top the pool and have a chance of a home quarter-final, albeit an outside one.

Munster will have pride to play for when entertaining London Irish next Saturday, and a victory should ensure them of a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup, while, of course, they top the Magners League.

No doubt the tournament organisers would be delighted to have Munster, and perhaps Clermont and Wasps, re-routed to the secondary European competition. Ironically were Munster to win it they would actually improve their tally of ERC ranking points and either way will almost certainly retain their top-tier seeding for next season’s draw.

Yet, such has been the degree to which they’ve spoiled themselves and their fans, that all of this would still seem a little anti-climactic.

The Ireland squad for the Six Nations to be announced on Thursday will again reflect the power shift of the last two or three years in Irish rugby. Comparisons between Leinster and Munster were often particularly odious for Leinster. Now it is Leinster who have become the Euro machine, upping their intensity and skill levels to Test standard, whereas Munster have spluttered.

Whereas the Munster scrum has become, and remains, an acute Achilles’ heel, the appointment of Greg Feek and emergence of Mike Ross has helped to rectify that problem for Leinster – even making it into something of a weapon. And even though Munster have been every bit as ambitious, Leinster’s back play has been markedly better.

In all of this a degree of perspective needs to be kept. Munster lost three away matches. It’s happened to Toulouse, Leicester and Leinster in recent times – Leinster losing all three away games and failing to qualify only three seasons ago, the year before they went on to win the Heineken Cup.

Munster are, as Paul O’Connell admitted afterwards, at something of a crossroads. Inevitably there will be talk of a team being past its best, of a group of players who have lost their hunger and how wholesale changes are required. Perhaps the first is true. But the hunger is lacking and the team requires a complete overhaul? Don’t buy that.

Why would the hunger be dimmed all of a sudden now? It’s only last season they reached the semi-finals, when they had the misfortune to be drawn away and lose Paul O’Connell. If the tetchy, bad-tempered way they went down to Toulon on Sunday showed anything, it’s that they care as much as ever.

But the main problem last Sunday was they played so poorly, both tactically and in execution. The game plan revolved around moving the ball wide in order to move the Toulon wings up into the line and then play territory into the ensuing gaps. They ended up shoveling the ball laterally across the gain line and being shepherded toward the touchline by Toulon and overlooked opportunities to kick. It was an unusually loose, misguided, frantic and even slightly wild performance.

Their exit is damaging to the Munster brand in many ways though it’s probably not the end of an era any more than it’s the end of the world. Go through Saturday’s team, and for sure many of their golden generation have grown old together. Nine of the starting XV are in their 30s, along with two of their bench and three injured players.

It’s worth noting Toulouse have 11, while Leicester and Northampton have only four each, though more pertinently perhaps, Leinster have seven thirtysomethings in their squad. Furthermore, as has been obvious for some years now, Leinster are more successfully regenerating from within. Five of their six tries against Saracens on Saturday were scored by home grown, under-25 products.

Yet the vast majority of Munster’s thirtysomethings will be back next season, and most of them still have some good rugby left in them as well.

They seem to be getting tetchier in their rugby dotage too. You sense too that between IRB videos highlighting law changes which used Munster as an example, and Sky Sports’ critique of Munster’s sealing off at ruck time, it’s become increasingly fashionable for officialdom to pick on Munster.

They’ve been unlucky with the referees and, indeed, touchjudges in their away games this season, with Dave Pearson (who also awarded a torrent of penalties against them in last season’s semi-final) particularly bad. (An elite Test referee? Dear Lord).

Yet Munster have the worst disciplinary record of any team in the competition. In their five pool games this season they have incurred four yellow cards and one red card. To this can be added 11 yellow cards in their 13 games thus far in the Magners League – the second worst in that competition behind Aironi. That’s 15 yellow cards and one red card in 18 league and cup games this season. Furthermore, they’ve had to cope with suspensions to O’Connell, Lifeimi Mafi and Sam Tuitupou this season.

Those statistics speak for themselves really. Tellingly, nine of the 11 yellow cards in their group were brandished to away players. But however much of a raw deal Munster have had this season, discipline has become a problem. Munster have always cleverly harnessed something of a persecution complex, but perhaps their belief that officials have it in for them has become self-perpetuating.