Next generation showing cut and thrust of Munster
Munster’s next generation may be targeting Heineken Cup medals long term, but got an early taste of success in Cork last night as the province’s A team lifted the British & Irish Cup for the first time. Led by Billy Holland, the victory gave the province’s fringe players and first-team hopefuls a warm winning experience they will want to repeat on European rugby’s greater stages before too long.
Cross Keys finished the game with 13 men after late yellow cards for lock Dan Hodge and wing Nathan Trowbridge but the Welsh outfit had already been well beaten.
This was Munster’s day and a glimpse of the future all rolled into one with tries from scrum-half Duncan Williams, wing Luke O’Dea and centre Ivan Dineen, and fly-half Scott Deasy getting the rest of Munster’s 31 points with his boot to allow captain Billy Holland to lift the province’s first silverware of the season.
Earlier in the season, Tony McGahan had spoken about the difficulties of player rotation and the balance that needed to be struck between fielding his strongest side and offering playing opportunities to those on the fringes.
In a rugby landscape, where such chances are limited in the Ulster Bank League owing to regulations that restrict the use of contracted players to two per team per game, it is easy to see why the Munster management have embraced the competition as a player development vehicle.
That Conor Murray, Peter O’Mahony and Simon Zebo were all playing B&I Cup rugby last season and made seamless transitions to Heineken Cup level in this campaign while Anthony Foley was cutting his coaching teeth in it for the past two years should be reason enough to show the value of the concept and the players from both sides at Musgrave Park yesterday evening certainly seemed to have bought into this.
Alas, a ridiculously early kick-off time of 5.30pm, scheduled to suit the television paymasters, kept crowd numbers well below par for such an event with all but a handful of spectators occupying the 2,850-capacity temporary main stand.
Those that did make it through the Cork rush hour on a chilly, blustery and overcast evening included Messrs Murray, O’Mahony and Zebo along with the majority of the Munster senior squad and a small but enthusiastic band of Cross Keys followers from Wales.
They were treated to a committed effort from both sides with Ian Costello’s Munster A side led by flanker Billy Holland showing the greater invention and edging the physicality stakes.
It was a memorable end to his Munster career for substitute hooker Denis Fogarty who had a big hand in the third try.
In the week he announced he was departing the province for French side Aurillac, he charged upfield towards the righthand corner and offloaded in the tackle to fellow replacement Barry O’Mahony, running a good support to set up a move through three pairs of hands, and finished down the left by inside centre Ivan Dineen.
It was a move typical of the team’s effort, a mix of youth and experience, nothing flashy just solid and effective — just the way Munster players are meant to be.
© This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, April 28, 2012
