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Majestic Munster advance  Munster’s
reward for topping the Group of Death is a quarter-final trip to Guinness
Premiership table-toppers Gloucester.
The teams will do battle in the first weekend of April, with a full house
guaranteed.
The 2006 winners produced yet another inspirational display on Saturday
evening, overcoming defending champions London Wasps 19-3 in a soaking
wet Thomond Park.
Lawrence Dallaglio and company were unable to stop the Munster machine
as they reached the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup for the 10th
time in a row.
“I am very proud of them,” said coach Declan Kidney. “Munster
are a team who feed off the traditions of whatever other people set-up.
We feel an onus upon us not to let other people down. And the players
didn’t let anyone down. That’s as much a respect for the players
that went before us as it is out of now.
“We had the European Cup holders, the Challenge Cup holders and
a team of Llanelli’s quality in the group and we managed to get
out of it. We just feel very privileged to come out of such a group. It
was definitely the toughest pool we’ve been drawn in, in the years
I’ve been involved.”
There were also signs that Ronan O’Gara has banished the memories
of Ireland’s pitiful World Cup display, scoring 14 points and setting-up
Denis Leamy for the game’s only try.
“If I hadn’t been coaching Wasps I’d have stood up and
applauded O’Gara,” admitted Wasps coach Shaun Edwards. “You
could see why he’s such a hero to the people of Munster. In those
sorts of conditions he’s one of if not the best in the world.
“It showed what a competitor he is because he had a difficult time
during the World Cup. He’s the kind of person who shows you play
rugby with your brain as well as your body.”
With Paul O’Connell currently sidelined through injury, the out-half
was handed the captain’s armband.
“I was thinking during the week that I could become the first Munster
captain in 10 years not to qualify for the knock-out stages,” he
said. “That was pressure on my shoulders. I asked the forwards for
a big performance and they delivered.
“The World Cup is not so long ago. You wonder why 10 of those Munster
lads played poorly in the World Cup yet now we’re firing. You try
and play your best every Saturday and I suppose that’s how honest
we are but I can’t give answers as to why it goes like this one
week and differently another week.”
It was Wasps who actually started the brighter. Any ideas that 20-year-old
Danny Cipriani would be fazed by such an occasion were quashed when he
slotted a 45-metre penalty after four minutes.
But Munster have their own reliable kicker in O’Gara and he responded
a few minutes later to level matters.
Both sides were then reduced to 14 men when Leamy was sin-binned for hands
in the ruck and Simon Shaw was penalised for not retreating 10 metres.
O’Gara kicked two more penalties before the break to give the home
side a 9-3 interval lead.
Dallaglio — in what was his last Heineken Cup appearance —
saw yellow after the break for infringing at a ruck.
O’Gara then kicked his fourth penalty of the day to put some daylight
between the sides.
The only try of the game came inside the final 10 minutes.
After 21 phases of possession, O’Gara broke through the first line
of defence and fed Leamy, who touched down in the corner to cap off a
superb team performance.
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