Not pretty to watch but so sweet to win for Munster

The journey continues for all the Irish provinces after another pulsating weekend of European action.

Not pretty to watch but so sweet to win for Munster

The journey continues for all the Irish provinces after another pulsating weekend of European action.

We’ve never had it so good with three Champions Cup quarter-finals secured for Munster, Leinster and Ulster, coupled with Connacht’s advancement to the Challenge Cup equivalent. That has never happened before.

Right now Irish rugby can do no wrong, even if Munster, Ulster and Connacht all had to dig deep into their reservoirs of physical and mental strength to prevail.

The only downside is that all three will be on the road, even if Ulster only have to travel as far as Dublin, when the tournaments resume in late March with tough challenges awaiting the visitors.

Leinster’s impressive bonus-point win over Wasps in Coventry yesterday guaranteed them the home comforts offered by the Aviva Stadium for their quarter-final. The failure of Toulouse to bag a bonus point in their win over Bath means Ulster will now be Leinster’s opponents in an all Irish clash.

One suspects that Toulouse will be happy to have avoided a return trip to Dublin and instead meet a more familiar foe in Racing 92 in Paris.

As expected Munster will be traveling to Murrayfield to face an ever-improving Edinburgh side while the remaining quarter-final pairs two teams that have clashed twice already in the tournament with Saracens playing Glasgow Warriors again at Allianz Park as they did last Saturday.

Unlike many sides experiencing their maiden voyage in Thomond Park, Exeter weren’t in the least bit intimidated about dealing with the prospect. Where others were beaten before they started, the current Gallagher Premiership leaders were more than up for the challenge.

Champions of England two seasons ago, beaten finalists last season and current leaders, they are a very good side. There is a perception in some quarters that playing in Thomond Park alone is enough for Munster to beat all-comers. Not so. At this level, you have to perform.

This was a game I was concerned about having watched the ease with which the Chiefs dismantled Castres the previous week, far more convincingly than Munster managed when entertaining the same opposition in Limerick last December.

Over the course of the two pool games against Exeter, a mere two points separated the sides.

Munster now know what other sides experience when playing against them as Exeter, in all manner of ways, represent a carbon copy of the way Munster are set up. Strong in the set piece, brutal at the breakdown, a punishing maul, ruthless in defense with an unrelenting kicking game.

Their game-plans are interchangeable as is their mental toughness and willingness to give everything to the cause. Perhaps that is why I have come to admire Exeter, and their supporters, so much over the last three seasons.

The problem for Munster on Saturday was that Exeter were so much better in the areas that Munster normally dominate. They won all the major collisions and their kicking game was way superior. On far too many occasions, Conor Murray and Joey Carbery kicked long without any chance for the chasing wingers to regain or even compete for possession.

Exeter filled the backfield, regularly dropping their out-half Joe Simmonds back to support the back three. Jack Nowell was like a magnet for the ball and, all too often, Munster presented him with opportunities to counter.

Earlier in the week England coach Eddie Jones suggested that Nowell, a Lion in New Zealand two years ago, had the capacity to play at openside such was his range of skills in contact. On the basis of this performance, Jones has to find a place for him somewhere in the England line up.

Munster went down so many blind alleys on Saturday with sloppy execution and poor handling errors, forced in most instances by the intensity of the visitors’ line speed in defence, that you feared for their chances of coming out on top.

Their passing under pressure was poor. A failure to generate any momentum coupled with an ineffective kicking game meant they found it impossible to control territory. Never before were Munster forced to contest a game in Thomond Park on the back of such meagre rations.

Restricted to 36% possession and 35% territory, Exeter’s impressive coach Rob Baxter must be left scratching his head as to how his charges lost this one. Visits to the Exeter twenty two were a rarity in an extremely tense second half but, to their credit, Munster still found a way to come out on top.

For that they should be grateful for the steely demeanour Carbery has brought to proceedings with his 20th consecutive kick at goal in his last four outings proving his most important when he put Munster two points ahead with just seven minutes remaining.

For many of the older generation of Munster supporters, this contest resembled an old fashioned Munster Cup tie when both sides went out to beat each other up. Not pretty to watch but massively satisfying to win.

This one really went to the wire and on a day when so many of Munster’s leading lights were contained, Tadhg Beirne was again the standout performer in red. Contests as tight as this come down to key moments. In this one it was a brilliant line out steal by Byrne’s direct replacement Billy Holland within a minute of coming onto the field.

With Exeter primed to unleash another punishing maul five metres from the Munster line, Holland had a choice to make. Compete in the air or stay on the ground to repel the inevitable drive. He gambled and trusted his instincts. He followed that priceless steal with a thundering tackle that yielded a penalty and further relief as it enabled Munster exit their half. Big moments swing games and Holland’s bench impact was crucial.

Quite what this error-strewn performance says about Munster’s chances of making a first European final since the glory days that came to an abrupt halt in 2009, when Leinster burst the bubble in Croke Park, remains to be seen. Right now, after a real war of attrition Munster will just be happy that, when the tournament resumes after the Six Nations, they will take their rightful place in the knockout phase of European action for an unprecedented 18th time.

Edinburgh’s win over Montpellier made it almost impossible for Munster to a home quarter final. When the tournament was revamped and rebranded the Champions Cup in 2014 the open draw for the semi final stage was disbanded with your seeding at the completion of the pool stage dictating who hosts the respective quarter and semi finals.

As a result the only way Munster and Leinster can meet at the knockout phase is in the final itself.

If Munster, as 5th seed, beat Edinburgh in their quarter final, they will need Glasgow, seeded 8th, to win against Saracens to host a semi-final. The more likely outcome however is another road trip, this time to England, against 2016 and 2017 European champions.

Should Leinster progress to the last four at the expense of Ulster then the current holders, as 3rd seed, would only host a semi-final if Toulouse, seeded 8th, beat Racing 92. If Racing 92 win then, as 2nd seed, Leinster would have to travel to France for their semi-final.

All that will be parked for the moment as the focus switches immediately to the demands of the national squad preparing for that upcoming Six Nations.

The incentive for the provincial players not involved in Joe Schmidt’s squad is to keep things ticking over in the Guinness PRO14 in preparation for another bumper weekend of European action when both tournaments resume on the weekend commencing March 29.

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