O'Gara spares Munster blushes
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:05
Irish No. 10 Ronan O’Gara once again proved his worth to Munster by kicking them to a dramatic 19-17 win over Montauban in their Heinenken Cup opener on Friday night at Thomond Park.
Widely expected to launch the re-opening of the famous stadium with a bang, Munster were so very nearly upset by their determined French opponents.
A frustrating night for players and fans alike on the Irish side but full credit should go to the visiting Montauban team. Having fielded a slightly under-strength team, the Top 14 strugglers were three minutes away from a fantastic upset on opening night.
Munster could simply put nothing together in the opening half an hour and it was only a Barry Murphy, try late in the first half, that provided their home fans with something to shout about in the first forty minutes.
Montauban opening the scoring with No. 9 Petre Mitu first penalty as neither side really looked like they would be scoring any tries on the night. O'Gara converted a penalty of his own as much of the first half saw a tight forward battle.
Keith Earls threatened to break the game open with just over 20 minutes gone but he was pulled down after a fantastic linebreak and, with no support, was forced to hold on to the ball and concede a penalty.
The home fans seemed fairly shell-shocked during much of the match as, a team they had expected to see crumble under the pressure, was now challenging their great champions.
A great sense of relieve seemed to fill the ground after Murphy went over in the corner following a nice backline move in which All Black wingerDoug Howlett drew two men before feeding the ball to Murphy just 10 yards out. The winger showed good footwork to step inside two defenders and give the home side the lead for the first time in the match.
Leading 10-3 at the break many would have expected the star-studded Munster lineup to take control of the game early in the second period. While they definitely did begin to dominate possession and territory, they still lacked any real cutting edge.
Mitu converted another two penalties to O’Gara’s one, as the half drew on before, to almost deathly silence, Sylvain Jonnet touched down for Montauban. With the conversion unsuccessful the ninth placed Top 14 team had the slightest of leads at the home of the reigning Heineken Cup champions.
After one failed attempt O’Gara restored the home side to the lead but they seemed determined to do it the hard way.
Just six minutes to go then and Irish scrumhalf Paul Stringer gave away a very kickable penalty. Mitu duly delivered and the most unimaginable upset once again seemed possible.
Inspired by fear of an embarrassing loss the Munster forwards were quickly able to force a penalty from the breakdown situation. O’Gara, so often the hero in the past, once again provided for his team.
If nothing else Montauban, who remember where meant to be under strength, proved they were no pushovers. Fighting to the last minute and were led all the way by tenacious number nine Mitu and they most certainly would not been unworthy winners on the night.
It was not pretty, and definitely not a result they will be pleased with, but, at the end of the day, Paul O’Connell and his men will take the four points and be grateful they were not forced to pay for a distinctly average Heineken Cup opening performance.
Scorers:
Munster:
Tries: Murphy
Con: O’Gara 4
Pens: O’Gara
Montauban:
Tries: Jonnet
Pens: Mitu 4
Teams:
Munster: 15 Keith Earls, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Rua Tipoki, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter
Stringer, 8 Justin Melck, 7 David Wallace, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Frederico Pucciariello, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 John O'Sullivan, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Paul Warwick, 22 Barry Murphy.
Montauban: 15 Johan Dalla Riva, 14 Sylvain Jonnet, 13 Jean-Philippe Viard, 12 Rida Jahouer, 11 Jean Emmanuel Cassin, 10 Régis Lespinas, 9 Petre Mitu, 8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Marc Raynaud (c) 6 Yannick Caballero, 5 Rowan Frost, 4 Scott Murray, 3 Nick Adams, 2 Brice Mach, 1 Bogdan Balan.
Replacements: 16 Camille Traversa, 17 Laurent del Boulbes, 18 Silviu Florea, 19 Karim Ghezal, 20 Antoine Battut, 21 Fabien Fortassin, 22 Julien Laharrague.
