HEINEKEN CUP MUNSTER V TOULON: KEITH DUGGANfinds Munster's Donncha O'Callaghan in no mood to let down the fans ahead of the French side's visit to Thomond Park
THIS ISN’T quite a last stand for Munster but around the famous ground in Limerick this week, there was a growing sense that Munster – team and raucous fans – will have to concoct one of those days if they are to prevail against Toulon.
The French team, shimmering with wealth and a motley crew of superstars are seeking to inflict a third defeat in succession on the Irish club. A defeat here could seriously debilitate Munster’s season even as if just beginning. The losses to Leinster in the Magners League and London Irish in their opening Heineken Cup match were competitive.
Still, three on the trot would make for a black October. And the Munster players are in a familiar place: smarting and desperate for a return to what they know best.
“It is what gets you across the line,” Donncha O’Callaghan said of the Thomond Park atmosphere that has acquired an international mystique since European club competition caught hold.
“I have been lucky to have been involved with this team for a long time and I have never felt that I have been playing with team-mates but with my friends. And it is a hugely important thing for me. I know it is said a lot but when the shit hits the fan you go further for a friend than a team-mate. And that is what it always comes down to. It comes down to your love for the team and for the game and hopefully on Saturday we can front up to that because to be honest in the last two weeks we haven’t.
“It is all well and good to ask supporters to come and shout their heads off but if we are playing like a bag of shit, it makes it hard for them. Sorry!”
O’Callaghan smiled at what, in the age of bland pronouncements by sports stars, amounted to a mildly scandalous outburst. But the Cork man has always worn his heart on his sleeve and had just preceded his declaration by making a direct plea to Munster fans to turn out noisily and in force on Saturday.
“Playing in front of 26,000 and if ever we needed that home support . . . we never needed to get home as badly. So we need everyone coming to make it massive and to make it hugely intimidating. It is our home and it would be great if people could drop up.
“I know it is tough times for people paying a lot for tickets but if you come Saturday . . . the team needs you.”
Deep down, he probably knew that there was little chance of a sudden abandonment by the Munster faithful but that acknowledgement that supporters were digging into pockets is true to the Munster way. Even after the completion of a glittering and modern Thomond Park; even with international marque signings of their own, Munster remains a family club.
As O’Callaghan mused on the frustrations the pack experienced in the Madjeski Stadium last Saturday, he admitted the set-pieces could have been better and believes the team owes its fans better. It is not about lack of endeavour or talent, just that Munster have struggled to get their playbook as streamlined as it needs to be. Those failures cannot happen against Toulon.
“It couldn’t have gotten much worse, to be honest. It needed improving and to be fair, fellas have bought into it. Everyone is a lot more accountable for their actions at scrum and there is a better buy-in.”
The unspoken fear is that Munster’s European season might be all but derailed by the time Paul O’Connell returns in December. Munster have been playing catch-up with their injury list since the season began but in the past fortnight, that unavailability of O’Connell and Jerry Flannery and the latest blow of losing Tomás O’Leary for a month have been tough to cope with. But none of these can be used as excuses: Munster simply have to take care of business if they are to prosper in a tough group.
“When we first saw the draw, we thought: one team will come out of this group,” O’Callaghan admits. “Home matches are vital and it is the beauty of the European Cup. You have to be at your best week-in, week-out. And it is great to test yourself against big squads, clubs with huge money.
“And to be fair, leaving money aside, if you were throwing a team together, you would still have the likes of Denis Leamy running out for Munster, you would still have Peter Stringer, you would still have Ronan O’Gara; the guys who care about the place. And hopefully that will come out on Saturday and that is always what it comes down to, isn’t it? It is about playing for your team more so than playing for your bank account.”
The thought of money inevitably brings conversation back to Toulon. Given that you couldn’t kick a hair-dryer in the Munster dressingroom without hitting internationals from both hemispheres and several Lions players – O’Callaghan included – the idea that Munster v Toulon is rags v riches does not quite hold true. But O’Callaghan gave a pretty good wide-eyed account of the French wealth. “Their team sheet is like something from a fantasy rugby team with great players throughout,” he praised.
And it is true that few clubs can choose between Jonny Wilkinson, sun king of England’s yesterdays and Felipe Contepomi, general pain-in-the-ass of many Munster yesterdays to marshal their troops at number 10.
“They are both great 10s and Contepomi can also play 12,” O’Callaghan said.
“He would have great knowledge into how we play and knows the atmosphere at Thomond. He won’t be daunted coming here. He is someone we would probably have to target and make it a confrontational game. Teams who have been to Thomond might see things they can improve on. And when you lose a few games here, it gives you a bad taste.
“We would have played (Toulon coach Phillipe) Saint-Andre twice when he coached Sale and they were hugely confrontational games as well. So he knows what to expect. Everyone has their homework done and if a team has a weakness, it will be shown up.
“They are typically French. There is huge pride in their scrum and in their maul and you know it is going to be a day for putting the hard hat on because there will be plenty of confrontation.”
