Munster Rugby’s Jerry Flannery, spoke to Donn O Sullivan this week ahead of the Ospreys, Heineken Cup Quarter Final tie.
30 years old, 31 caps for Ireland, Grand Slam winner, Six Nations winner, Triple Crown winner. Double Heineken Cup winner, capped 83 times for Munster, played in 28 Heineken Cup ties and scoring four tries.
It has already been a successful season for Jerry Flannery this year, so where does the long haired hooker get the motivation to step once more into the arena on Sunday?
“Munster is your bread and butter. When you go away with Ireland it always an honour to wear the green of your country, but if you are not putting it in for Munster then you’ll never make it higher.”
Coming back from a Grand Slam winning Six Nations, people might not have blamed the Irish lads if their eye went off the ball. Not the case in the Munster camp, Jerry assures me.
“I can’t speak for other camps, but the on thing we had when we came back to Munster was the knowledge that the lads had taken 14 from 15 points in the Magners League while we were away. Fair play to Tony (McGahan), Laurie, (Fisher) and Axel (Foley), they kept the lads on a real high and the work done by the entire squad was amazing. That was our motivation last week against Leinster. I couldn’t go out and put in a sub par performance, not after the lads had done all that work. Competition for places is immense and we as a group, if you want to call us that, (I did) knew that nothing less than a win was needed”.
With a massive win secured, thoughts immediately turned to the Ospreys tie on Sunday. With this being Munster’s 10th quarter final in a row and their 100th game overall, where does the motivation come for this particular game?
“I have never retained the Heineken Cup. Few teams have. That would be one motivation. That is looking beyond Sunday though. Sunday is all about not letting anyone down. We are playing a fantastic outfit in the shape of the Ospreys. We know that an 80 minute performance is needed from all of us if we are to succeed. In front of our own fans, there is pressure, but it is a massive boost. Thomond Park is our inspiration”.
What are we to expect of the Ospreys? Jerry gave me his thoughts. “With players like Hook, Williams, Phillips and Bowe, we know that we are in for a real test. We know them all from having played them over the years with Wales. They play a lot like Wales actually. They are good at isolating players and punishing mistakes. Clock off and we will be exposed. That is the best way of describing it.”
So what of Munster. Without asking for the game plan, I asked Jerry what we can expect from the men in red on Easter Sunday?
“We will give it everything anyway. First and foremost. After that, I think that we are developing into a different kind of team. In 2006 we were a bit forward heavy and scored most of our tries from sheer work rate. Now though with the like of Mafi, Earls, Dowling, Howlett and Murphy we are more a threat from all areas. It might be a cliché, that forwards win matches and backs by how much, but with the side we have, if we (as forwards) can lay a platform it will be the first step. We have real class in our backline and it is a privilege to play in front of them” With the game kicking off at 1pm, spare a thought for Jerry who will be having chicken and pasta for breakfast. Although it does beat a few cans at 10.30am.
