JUST OVER TWO minutes in and Peter O’Mahony was delivering a huge play as his try-saving tackle on Thomas Young denied Wasps.
The Munster captain barely let up from there was he delivered one of his best Munster performances to help his province to a 35-14 bonus-point win in the Champions Cup in Coventry.
Without 34 senior players against a Wasps side that were also admittedly without 22 players themselves, Munster’s seasoned internationals combined superbly with 12 fresh-faced debutants to deliver an excellent display in what was a madcap game.
O’Mahony was a proud man post-match, saying that the achievement ranks up there with some of the biggest in his career.
“It genuinely rates right up the very top of it,” said O’Mahony. “It was a bizarre scenario, the whole thing was bizarre. It gave us an opportunity to do something really special with a special group of people who haven’t spent a lot of time together.
“We spoke about just getting to the game, that was a win in itself. To get a bonus point away from home in Europe, that hasn’t really sunk in yet. That’s an incredible feat for the guys who played for Munster for the first time, never mind their first European game.”
It has been a strange fortnight for Munster with all the drama of their trip to South Africa, positive Covid cases, fears over whether they could actually field a team against Wasps, but a determined performance in the end.
Academy manager Ian Costello ran their preparations along with his academy staff over the past two weeks.
A tough red card for Wasps captain Brad Shields in the first half helped hugely, of course, but O’Mahony is a proud man tonight.
“It has been a mental experience, but I couldn’t be prouder of the lads between the young fellas – obviously, it’s an incredible step up for them but they did some job tonight,” said O’Mahony.
“The senior players who were left behind did an incredible job of coaching and doing multiple roles. Some guys who would have been ‘put their head down and work away,’ they put their guard down and really opened up to the young guys and helped them along as much as they could.
“Then the coaches, it was tough for them, they were the guys here thrown in the deep end. Cossie and Kyri [Andy Kyriacou] and Greig [Oliver], they did an incredible job liaising with the other guys and giving us some great sessions.”
While the young guns will deservedly draw plenty of attention tonight, Munster’s senior men stepped up in a major way against Wasps.
O’Mahony was superb, Tadhg Beirne immense, Conor Murray excellent, and Damian de Allende impactful.
“It gave us a great focus and a great appetite,” said the Munster captain. “There was a carrot there to do something really special and there’s a carrot in itself for playing European rugby for the club you grew up in.
“A special occasion, guys had to step up and they did that over the last couple of weeks. The senior guys who were left behind did an incredible job and we wanted it as much as the young guys tonight to make it special for everyone. I was delighted to be able to be part of it.”
And then the young guns delivered plenty of memorable moments.
There were debut tries for 19-year-old fullback Patrick Campbell and 21-year-old hooker Scott Buckley, who was named player of the match. Second row Eoin O’Connor had a brilliant blockdown at one stage, while number eight Daniel Okeke delivered a huge work-rate and some big carries.
“They were class, they were absolutely class tonight,” said O’Mahony. “Scott hitting 100% with his lineout throwing, his work around the park.
“Pa [Campbell], I watched him play once for his club [Young Munster] and he was really impressive. But tonight and the last two weeks in training, seeing the way he glides around the place, it was a stock-take moment for some of us, going ‘This guy is seriously impressive.’
“Tonight, on one of the biggest stages you can get, there he is doing the same thing as if he was playing for his school or club. It was incredibly impressive.
“Daniel was incredible. He got through so much work. He was in our lineout, he was in our six-man lineout, he was running attacking lineout plays off our five-man. He was involved in the four-man and he had a lot of stuff to learn. It’s difficult, trust me, to learn all the stuff we have lineout-wise and play-wise. He did a great job and we just said to him, ‘You just need to carry well because that’s what you’re good at.’
“He delivered an incredible performance, gave us front-foot ball. He was a bit loose at times with his offloading but as a whole, his performance was unbelievably impressive. I’m very proud of him.”