PRESSURE IS NEVER really too far from your door as a Munster player.
They went to Dublin last night knowing a win was crucial, and their 24-point victory not only ends the talk of Leinster’s growing superiority – for now – but means winning the Rainbow Cup has emerged as a realistic target.
The noise around their standing in this fixture had been growing for some time. A conversation that once centered around resources and squad depth had moved onto the uncomfortable topics of psychology and mentality.
Imagine the chatter if they sent a full-strength side to the RDS and lost to a Leinster team who are only really passing the time until next Sunday’s trip to La Rochelle – around 10 of those who started against Munster will drop out of team to play Ronan O’Gara’s side.
It didn’t take long to realise that wasn’t going to be the case. An early Leinster venture into the Munster 22 ended with a good old-fashioned derby scuffle. More red bodies piled in as referee Chris Busby pleaded for cool heads. Munster captain Peter O’Mahony made sure to throw his weight around before asking Busby to tell the hosts to calm down.
You wouldn’t need a degree in sports psychology to work out Munster were in the mood.
Crucially, their key men – many of whom looked strangely subdued on the same pitch in the Pro14 final – played with intent.
O’Mahony threw himself at Hugh O’Sullivan to strip the ball back for his team. Seconds later Damian de Allende was bearing down on Jordan Larmour, throwing the fullback into a spin with a quick shimmy of the hips. He then waited, and waited, before zipping the ball to Conor Murray for the opening score.
Joey Carbery, almost anonymous on his last visit here, linked up the play well and grew into the contest while kicking well. Chris Farrell brought power in the midfield while the brilliant De Allende offered a superb attacking threat. CJ Stander looked to keep the ball alive instead of just pounding into those wearing blue while Tadhg Beirne nicked lineouts and ran amok at the breakdown.
That’s not to say this was either a classic interpro encounter or a vintage Munster performance. Both teams were guilty of some really poor handling errors which belonged more to a wet November night than a crisp, clear April evening.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell, watching on from the stands, won’t have bounced out of the ground with a spring in his step.
To be fair, Leinster had to deal with some disruption, too. Harry Byrne limped off after five minutes, leaving them with the rather raw half-back pairing of David Hawkshaw and Hugh O’Sullivan who couldn’t gain a foothold in the game.
Against a dominant Munster pack, Leinster struggled to gain meaningful territory and a backline bursting with running threats failed to ignite.
In a scrappy first-half all they could muster up was a single Hawkshaw penalty. Munster had enough defensive nous to keep them at bay while doing whatever they could to make the job harder than it needed to be. Stephen Archer was yellow-carded for a moment of senselessness as he raked his boots over James Ryan at the base of a ruck.
Jack O’Donoghue was lucky to just about stay on the right side of the law for a clear out on Ed Byrne.
Yet Leinster’s limitations meant Munster were able to stay in the ascendency without ever really playing to their own potential. By the time Murray struck for his second try with an hour played, the result looked safe. It’s been a long time since any Munster team have looked so comfortable against Leinster.
They played out the final quarter knowing the losing run was finally over.
The cynical reaction would be to point to the team-sheets and write this off as an anomaly, a full-strength Munster beating a much-changed Leinster in a competition that can’t even provide a clear fixture list to its participants.
For Munster, though, this was an important result. The losing streak is over and they now have something to play for in the coming weeks.
The Rainbow Cup might not be the most attractive prize out there, but ending a decade-long trophy drought has to now be a serious incentive for a province starved of success, an opportunity to end another frustrating season on a high before integrating returning hero Simon Zebo and the injury-struck RG Snyman next season.
“We’re very happy about the result. I thought it was a very physical game with two quality sides who went at each other,” Van Graan said.
“I thought that first try we scored was a very good broken field attack, and it was a titanic battle and once we got our noses in front I felt we kept the pressure on.
“It’s very good for this group to come and win in the RDS.
“I think we took some of the lessons that we learned here in the final, we worked hard in the last few weeks and like I said, I thought it was a real physical battle.”
The Munster head coach didn’t try overstate the result, but was clearly happy to see his team deliver a more cohesive, assured performance than they did on their last visit to Dublin 4.
“I thought it was a very good team performance by all involved. Tactically we decided to pick the team and the impacts in a specific way, and I thought our starters did really well, and the impact from the bench was really, really good.
“I felt it was a good build on the Toulouse performance from a few weeks ago.”
As it stands that Toulouse defeat, and the Pro14 final loss, are ultimately the games that will define Munster’s 2020/21 season. Yet at this late stage of the campaign, they now have a serious chance to change the ending of that script.
The Rainbow Cup has plenty of detractors, but Munster have to chase it with everything they’ve got.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
