Another amazing weekend of enormous excitement from the Heineken Cup - the tournament that keeps on giving even when Wray and McCafferty would want to take it away.
It was a much less satisfactory weekend for the Irish provinces. A flu-stricken Connacht succumbed to the inevitable and were overwhelmed by Toulouse. Even then, there were some extraordinary performances, not least from the increasingly impressive Kieran Marmion who lasted 80 minutes despite having been on an IV in hospital 48 hours earlier. Mathematically Connacht are still in it, but they would need bonus point wins against Saracens and Zebre and have Toulouse and Saracens draw at Stade Ernest Wallon. Stranger things might have happened., but not very often
After a near perfect performance at Franklin gardens, Leinster were some way below par at the Aviva and lost to a fired up Northampton side that denied them a bonus point with a length of the pitch try after Jamie Heaslip (who was Leinster’s stand out player) knocked on as they pummelled the line in search of the win. Fair play to the Saints. Bullied and totally outplayed last week their pack returned the favour, out-muscling the Leinster pack who were also a fraction late to every breakdown. Samu Manoa was especially good and I suspect that Jim Mallinder will wish he had gone with that selection for the first leg.
Leinster, who had been extraordinarily accurate in Northampton, struggled to recreate that fluency off slow ball. They struggled to understand what referee Garces wanted and, frankly, who can blame them? He displayed a unique interpretation of the laws and, whilst clearly not biased, this suited the far less ambitious Northampton side. He was far too lenient at the breakdown allowing ball to be slowed down and defenders to compete whilst off their feet. On one occasion, a clean break by Leinster led to a penalty when George North poached the ball whilst clearly on his knees. Then, in the game’s climactic phases, Saints players could clearly be seen playing the ball whilst lying on the ground at almost every ruck.
Despite M Garces’ gross incompetence, it was not that which cost them the game. It was that their front row struggled and their backrow was as comprehensively beaten as the Saints’ had been the week before. Their set piece was badly disrupted by the barely legal Saints scrum (does Hartley’s head ever not pop out) and some excellent defensive work at the lineout from Christian Day. On that note, I really cannot understand why, when you have a 7 foot lock, you wouldn’t throw him in the air at 2 on opposition ball to upset the hooker. I don’t think Leinster once competed a Northampton throw in their own 22.
Leinster are still in control of the group but they now need to win in Castres and they won’t if they perform like that. Christmas will be just a little less comfortable in D4 than it might have been.
Ulster completed a perfect 10-pointer and an aggregate 83-3 win over Treviso. Although the Italian outfit have been disappointing, it is still an impressive performance from an Ulster side shorn of players such as Rory Best, Nuk the Bruk, Chris Henry and Tommy Bowe. I’m not sure that anyone who was not on the pitch is able to comment on the game as the fog made it extraordinarily difficult to watch. From what I could see - which is close to bugger all - PJ continued his fine form. One move with Gilroy coming off his wing from a set piece was particularly slick. Ulster’s young backs continue to improve, with Luke Marshall featuring strongly and scoring yet another try when running onto a delightful grubber from Jared Payne.
Following Leinster’s defeat, Ulster are the only remaining unbeaten side in the tournament and were nearly home and hosed with a minute remaining in the Montpellier, Leicester match until a 79th minute try from the outstanding Goneva rescued a late win for the Tigers, their first in France for a long time. Ulster are still in control and should fancy beating what will surely be a disinterested Montpellier side when they travel to Ravers for Round 5 next month. That would almost certainly secure qualification, but barring a shock win for Treviso when the Tigers travel to Italy, it is likely that Ulster will have to win at Welford Road to secure that coveted home quarter final.
At the start of the year, Munster’s draw looked the least challenging and so it has turned out. Despite playing some muck, in fact, quite a lot of it, they sit 5 points clear of Gloucester with a trip to Kingsholm and a home banker against Edinburgh to finish. But that wasn’t the case with 2 minutes to go as they trailled Perpignan by 4 points after Tommy Allen had failed to convert Bienvenuti’s try. WIth seconds remaining, Munster had a scrum and launched a backs move that would have embarrassed an Extra 3rds XV. But the play stayed alive and somehow the ball was worked wide to Dennis Hurley who barged his way magnificently down the right wing and managed to offload to Tommy O’Donnell. The magnificent openside then passed inside to JJ Hanrahan leaving the prodigious youngster with a one-on-one with full-back Joffrey Michell. He fainted left then stepped right running in the try unmolested to write yet another miracle victory into the Munster legend. It was an extraordinarily cool finish under immense pressure and is further proof that JJ is a serious talent.
So, although things aren’t quite as rosy as they might have been after last week’s heroics, I would still be confident of 3 of the irish provinces progressing to the quarter finals and further irritating Wray and McCafferty. If round 5 is half as exciting as this one, I can’t wait. Happy New Year.
Eighty minutes of mediocrity and a few seconds of brilliance. As long as you're producing the brilliance. Munster looked to have ground out a dour away win in France only to have it snatched away with two minutes left. A second loss in the Pool and qualification back in the balance.
But it wasn't quite over. Still time for the restart. The ball kept alive. Not quite for 40,000 phases and not to manoeuvre into drop-goal territory. But for an offload and a sidestep. Two years ago it was O'Gara at the last gasp, twice. On Saturday, it was the new kid and in a new way.
It wasn't much of game untill JJ Hanrahan took Tommy O'Donnell's offload and stepped his way past the Perpignan cover and into a little piece of new Munster folklore. Besides scrum dominance, Sean Dougall's disallowed try was the best that Munster had managed in 80 minutes. Perpignan hadn't fared much better in 78 minutes untill a set move and a defensive mix-up pushed them in front.
But Munster showed a huge amount of belief and confidence and kept playing. Dennis Hurley finally making progress before Tommy O'Donnell danced down the touchline and freed his hands. Aside from the immediate implications in Pool 6 this could be a big move forward for a young team. A first win in France for Sheridan, JJ, Cronin, Dougall,
O'Donnell, Kilcoyne. And an its-not-over-till-its-over performance.
Edinburgh did Munster a big favour yesterday with their win in Gloucester. A five point lead on Pool 6 leaves Munster with their destiny entirely in their hands.
