Munster just scrape through to beat Quins, 15-9

By Prof
October 25 2004

Quins came so very, very close to ending Munster’s winning run at Thomond Park in this competition. Few expected Quins to do anything apart from to be cannon fodder with as much chance of coming out on top as the Light Brigade at Balaklava.

Talking to local fans the day before the game they were expecting a try fest, many were betting on Christian Cullen to score four tries in the first half, but the evening after the game every one of them was saying that we deserved to have won the game and that they were amazed at the performance that Quins put up.
 
The conditions were shocking, it was very cold, very windy and the rain varied between downpour and drizzle, just the sort of conditions that you would think the big pack of Munster would like on their home ground in front of their partisan crowd.
 
Quins started well wining a lineout against the throw and, after a box kick from So’oialo, Cullen had the ball stolen from him by Staunton and Greenwood. From the next lineout Quins took on the Munster pack and drove them back 15 yards before the home side were forced to pull the maul down giving Staunton the chance to put points on the board. Even though Staunton isn’t exactly liked by a lot of the Munster crowd any more there was no noise for his kick, but that wasn’t the case when he hooked the ball left of the posts into the strong wind.
 
Staunton had another chance to get points on the board after Munster were penalised at a scrum, the Munster players made sure that a quick tap couldn’t be taken by walking away with the ball. Staunton made no mistake with his second kick into the strong wind. 0-3, 10 minutes.

The referee then made the first of a number of terrible decisions, Stringer was told to put the ball in, he hesitated and the front rows went down. Then both Horan and Fitz Gerald were sent to the sin bin. This meant Leamy and Nick Easter were taken off allowing McIlwham and Worsley to come on with Ceri Jones having to go to tighthead. After the scrum was reset again it looked like a perfectly alright scrum that stayed up and was won by the side putting in but the referee gave a free kick to Munster, they took a quick tap, spread the ball left, Harder went for an interception but the ball was looped over him and Anthony Horgan scored in the left hand corner, O’Gara missed the kick. 5-3, 14 minutes.

There was some fearless tackling from Quins but a slight offside by Fuga lead to a penalty for Munster only 8m from the Quins line, O’Gara kicked for the corner, Munster won the ball and drove forward but dropped the ball forward before the line. Stringer dragged Diprose off the back of the resulting scrum, how the referee allowed him to get away with it when he was standing offside when he did it was quite something. From the Munster scrum they were awarded another free kick for no readily apparent reason, Stringer was again told to put the ball in but just waited until the referee gave a free kick. Another quick tap was taken and Staunton slapped the ball down and was binned for a deliberate knock on. Munster kicked for the corner again, won their lineout but Quins’ counter drive pushed the Munster maul backwards and won a scrum.

More fierce Quins defence with only 13 on the pitch forced a knock on. Fitz Gerald and Easter and Horan and Leamy came back on, but Quins were still a man down.
 
So’oialo had the ball knocked out of his hands by Stringer who had dived over the ruck and Williams broke away with the ball, he was on the wrong side of the ruck when he picked the ball up but he got away with it, he fed it left to the flanker, Leamy,  who scored in the corner. O’Gara kicked successfully with the wind to increase Munster’s lead to 12-3, 25 minutes.

Fitz Gerald was then helped from the field with a hamstring injury and Worsley came on as a permanent replacement this time. Kelley then made a great break through the centre but his pass was terrible and went straight into touch. Things were looking ominous for Quins.
 
Staunton was caught offside in the middle of the field about 10m out, O’Gara kicked the simple penalty, 15-3, 39 minutes. It was to be Munster’s last points of the game.

The second half.
 
A steal at a lineout by Winters, a big hit from Harder on Horgan and a good kick from Staunton immediately put the pressure on Munster. Four minutes later Staunton clawed three points back when Munster were penalised at a lineout. 15,-6, 45 minutes.
 
An excellent break by Dafydd James with good support from Harder almost lead to a try but Harder was stopped just one metre short. But possession from the scrum was poor and the attacking position was lost because of good defensive play by Munster.
 
Ace Tiatia came on for Tani Fuga.
 
Soon after Ace was binned for a high tackle which was dubious in my opinion. The crowd immediately got on the back of the referee. Jim Williams came in throwing punches and should have been binned or sent off too but the referee just binned Ace.
 
Munster then attacked with good handling but Cullen knocked the ball on but the referee said it hadn’t and Munster got a scrum for a later knock on. Fuga had to come on for Easter to make up the front row. Quins’ 7-man scrum turned the first scrum but it was reset.
 
Jim Williams was then pulled off and Quinlan came on.
 
Some excellent pressure from Quins made Munster give away a penalty for hands in the ruck and Staunton kicked from wide out on the left. 15-9, 67, minutes. Tiatia came back on and Sherriff came on to replace Easter who had had a huge game.

Miall and Staunton put a huge double tackle in on Foley to hold him up just short of the line after some good pressure from Munster. Miall was then pulled off and Palepoi came on.
 
Munster had a lineout on Quins 5m line after they got a penalty for a tackle off the ball. Palepoi disrupted the lineout and Quins stole the ball on the ground, the ball was kicked and Lawlor knocked on. Quins won the scrum and Staunton put a huge clearance kick in.
 
Some excellent work by Sherriff and Vos led to a penalty for holding on and Staunton kicked to 30m from the home line. Ace was unlucky to give away a free kick at the lineout for not throwing the ball in fast enough.

Munster put pressure on Staunton and charged down two kicks and Henderson had a kick charged down too.
 
Although Munster stole a lineout in Quins half Ace picked up the ball, fed Jones and Quins had the best set of recycling of the game, edging closer and closer to the Munster line. Ace in excellent support caught the ball, but the referee saw a knock on that no one else in the ground saw and a scoring chance with Staunton ball in hand and a gap in front of him went begging. The Munster front row again collapsed and the referee gave them a penalty, they just about managed to get the ball back from the lineout and kicked the ball straight into touch and the referee blew the final whistle.
 
Every Munster fan I spoke to after the game said they were lucky to have won, a couple even said if the referee had made the decisions the other way he would have needed police protection to get off the pitch. I thought they were just being polite but having watched the replay I agree with them.
 
How our players and management must be feeling after putting in such a huge performance but coming away with only a bonus point I hate to think. If I was them I would feel absolutely gutted.
 
The first half performance from Quins was good against a strong wind blowing down the pitch. The half time talk was basically to keep the same tactics – make sure of the first up tackles and kick for the corners.
 
The weather conditions played a huge part in the game, the strong wind made kicking against it very difficult and the rain made handling tricky. It’s no surprise that the side playing with the wind had the best of the action in each half.
 
There was little expansive back play for the same reason, it was old style ten man rugby. One man who deserves a lot of praise in my opinion is Ceri Jones, he played the majority of the game at tight head and did well against a team that are supposed to have one of the most destructive tight forwards around. Perhaps people who have never played in the front row don’t realise how difficult it is to swap sides and still perform well but Jones certainly did.
 
Another person that deserves a lot of credit from the game was Steve So’oialo, he was up against very sharp opposition in Stringer but performed well throughout. In the first half his tactical kicking into the strong wind was excellent and his defensive play was excellent, even dumping Jim Williams on his back one time.
 
The use of Easter driving from the back of the ruck with Vos right on his shoulder was a great tactic that made the hard yards especially when Ceri Jones and Ace Tiatia were in close support near the end.
 
The fact that Fitz Gerald has picked up another injury is a great disappointment, he has injured his hamstring and is likely to be out for a couple of weeks at least. But seeing how Ceri Jones performed I don’t have any worries about him being able to stand in although it does make the bench look a bit thin in the front row.
 
Seeing the way the pack performed it won’t necessarily be a foregone conclusion that Cronjé and Maling will be a shoe in when they arrive, it will certainly mean that whoever we select will have to be on top form.
 
The commitment from the whole Quins side was awesome, with our specialist tight head missing for much of the game the pack who played with seven men for a quarter of the game held their own against the men in red, some of the press even said we edged it in the pack, whichever was you saw it, it was an incredible achievement.
 
On a personal note I’d like to thank the members and fans of Munster who were generous hosts, I hope we can provide as good a welcome when you visit us at HQ.
 
 
NEC Harlequins
Ceri Jones, Tani Fuga (Ace Tiatia ,55 mins), Maurice Fitz Gerald (Mike Worsley ,28 mins), Roy Winters , Simon Miall (Opeta Palepoi ,72 mins), Nick Easter (Luke Sherriff ,69 mins), Andre Vos, Tony Diprose, Steven So’oialo, Jeremy Staunton, Simon Keogh, Dafydd James, Will Greenwood, George Harder, Gavin Duffy.
Replacements
Ace Tiatia (Tani Fuga ,55 mins), Mike Worsley (Maurice Fitz Gerald ,28 mins), Opeta Palepoi (Simon Miall ,72 mins), Luke Sherriff (Nick Easter ,69 mins), Andy Dunne, Mel Deane, Tom Williams
 
Scorer:
Penalties:  Jeremy Staunton (3)
 
 
Munster
Marcus Horan, Frank Sheahan, John Hayes, Trevor Horgan, Paul O'Connell, Jim Williams (Alan Quinlan , 63 mins), Dennis Leamy, Anthony Foley, Peter Stringer, Ronan O'Gara, Anthony Horgan, Rob Henderson, John Kelly, Mossie Lawlor, Christian Cullen.
Replacements
Jerry Flannery, Gordon McIlwham, Tom Bowman, Alan Quinlan (Jim Williams, 63 mins), David Wallace, Mike Prendergast, Paul Burke
 
Scorers
Tries: Dennis Leamy, Anthony Horgan
Penalty: Ronan O'Gara
Conversion: Ronan O'Gara