Last minute Munster calm the faithful
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:52
Munster monsters: Wild Irish celebrations
Munster skipper Paul O'Connell sent out a 'don't panic' message to his side's fans following their nail-biting 19-17 victory over Heineken Cup new boys Montauban on Friday.
Playing at their newly improved Thomond Park in front of a European record crowd of 23,500, the reigning champions found themselves trailing three times in the Pool 1 opener and needed a 77th minute penalty from Ronan O'Gara to steal victory.
"We have played badly before and come through games," said O'Connell.
"That's what we did. It wasn't ideal, but that's what we did and got four points.
"It was a disappointing performance for us. Montauban came away from home and put up a very good show and they will be disappointed that they lost.
"We made a lot of mistakes and we conceded easy points to them. We didn't get any real momentum.
"You have to build pressure, but every time we did that we turned over the ball too easily. We didn't build pressure because we handed them easy points and territory.
"We tried to stay clam at the end. We had to get our heads on and get the job done. We needed discipline," he added.
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