IT has been sometime since Munster fans have attended a semi final and worried about whether their team has the components to win the contest. That will be the case this weekend however as 26,000 Munster fans enter Thomond Park to watch the Magners League Semi Final between Munster and the Ospreys.
Munster’s previous defeats in semi finals have left their scars. Harlequins, Biarritz and Leinster on two occasions have shown that Munster are lacking in the clinical edge to make the final step to a showdown.
This weekend’s opponents will not pack fear in their suitcases like many before them. Fortress Thomond Park no longer exists after the Harlequins game. Munster are now a beatable side and this achilles heel has been shown in full view in recent semi finals.
The Ospreys will play Munster for the fifth time this season. It is 3-1 to Munster at present, but the Ospreys performance in the scrum and line out in those games will have Munster fans worried. This Welsh team’s set piece is Munster’s kryptonite.
“That is where the game is going to be won. All the other games against them have been won there. They have proven to be a very strong set piece side. It will come down to that, as all big semi finals and games do”, commented Munster under fire coach Tony Mc Gahan this week.
“This will be our fifth meeting. We will certainly know each other well enough and that can bring it’s own difficulties. When you have two sides who know each other well and they have been competitive all season, then it will come down to small margins. You need to make sure you get on the front foot and make sure that you win the breakdown and defence areas” continued the Australian native.
Indeed, Munster performance or lack there of, against Harlequins, had the assembled masses asking questions of this Munster squad for the umpteenth time. Can this “aging” side continue to perform? Have teams figured Munster out? What’s next after that crushing Amlin defeat and less than impressive 22-6 win over Connacht. Munster captain Paul O’Connell had these words for the worrying fans.
“The week after Harlequins was tough because when we lost matches in the past they have always been in different circumstances. We were quiet embarrassed after the Harlequins game. Disappointed for a lot of people involved, probably more importantly for the supporters. They have had a bad few years. I don’t think they want to see us play some good rugby, they want to see us being physical and emptying the tank every time we play and we didn’t do that against Harlequins. That is probably why it was a tough week last week”
Fans will be worried that the Ospreys will once more out muscle Munster. O’Connell agrees that this weekend is going to be tough.
“This will be our fifth meeting with them. We have done okay against them, but we probably struggled a bit against them in the big game this season. In the away game over, we let ourselves down. It is a very tough draw for us. They are a very good side. They are a lot of players leaving the Ospreys this season, so they will be hugely motivated for this one. It is a tough draw, but when you are in the top four, they are all tough draws”
With the set piece being penciled as the main area for Munster to win or lose this game. Fans will be looking for Munster to keep it tight this weekend. Balls spilled out in the back line will result in scrums and scrums are not what Munster want or need. With O’Connell back to full fitness, the old, “kick to the corners” rugby of Munster must surely be adopted for this weekend. The wide, strung out game-plan of recent times has come up short one too many times.
As captain O’Connell just stated. Fans don’t want pretty rugby. They want trophies.
“The thing about our supporters is that we never needed to give them something to shout about. They were always there for us. I think we left them down against Harlequins. We have lost games before, but we always lost them trying our hearts out. Maybe we didn’t do that against Quins. To be physically dominated like we were in the first half was disappointing for all of our fans. I think we need to pay them back this weekend against the Ospreys. We have always been a big target for teams. Teams have always been up for it against us. I think with our recent form and our form in semi finals of late, we may have given some teams a sense of belief that was not there before. That is a bad thing on our behalf. Next weekend is another semi final for us and is a chance for us to put things right. Hopefully we will be in the right frame of time for it.”
Hopefully is right. Munster’s arch rivals Leinster are odds on for a second Heineken Cup and they may even be back in Thomond Park on May 28th for a shot at the Magners League.
Munster need to defeat the Ospreys first off. The Welsh side will fancy their chances of turning over the wounded animal that is Munster. Fans have not had ‘The Fear’ in a while.
It may be a good thing.
