WINNING coach Ian Costello summed it up perfectly when he described Munster’s European Champions Cup win at La Rochelle as “incredible”.
It was one of the most exciting clashes of the last 16, from the disallowed try for La Rochelle after 11 minutes up to the final turnover by Munster in injury time.
It was pulsating, it had almost everything that rugby can offer and there is now added excitement for the visit to Bordeaux in the quarter-final.
The weekend win by Munster answered recent questions of the province’s ability to stand up at the highest level after a number of defeats in the URC.
Seldom have we seen such a better display over these pulsating 80 minutes and when it comes to Champions Cup time you can never write Munster off.
After the game players spoke of their determination to go the whole way in this Investec Cup Championship while, Costello added: “These boys are extra special. We had our strongest squad out since we had a lot of injuries and we are now growing week by week. We had a lot of work on the training field coming into this one and it paid off.”
For the 3,000 Munster fans that travelled, it was a very special occasion and one that they will remember for some time.
They had plenty to cheer about, from the magnificent break of Thaakir Abrahams to send Craig Casey over to cancel out the earlier La Rochelle seven-pointer, to Gavin Coombes’ try early into the second half and Andrew Smith’s try on 50 minutes.
Jack Crowley was magnificent throughout and his drop goal proved to be the match-winner.
It was a hugely physical battle that had everything that knock-out rugby is all about and it went right down to the final seconds.
It was ironic that the winning score should come from the boot of out-half Crowley.
Landing late drop goals was so often the match-winning ploy of fellow Corkman and La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara who could only look helplessly from his seat in the stand.
These are worrying times for ‘Rog’ as this is the ninth match without a win for the French side.
