The Munster Way
21/12/09 22:04 Filed in: Sport
There is a thing
about Munster and respect (as Bock
noted yesterday.) Famously, whenever a kicker
- home or away team - is addressing the placed
ball at Thomond Park, the crowd fall silent to
allow the kicker to concentrate. You never see a
Munster player showboat when scoring a try. He
may celebrate, of course, but he will do so
respectfully. Munster have only lost one
Heineken Cup match there in the entire history
of the competition, but it remains the top
ground for rugby fans all over Europe to come
to. Your team may take one hell of a beating,
but at least they and the supporters will be
treated with respect. (The only visiting team to
depart from that script was Leicester, when they
beat Munster at Thomond in 2007. But there is
huge mutual respect between Munster and
Leicester, so we have no issue with that fact.)
What you should never do when you come to Thomond is abuse that respect afforded to you. In the home fixture last Saturday night week, Phillip Burger of Perpignan scored a peach of a try. Most Munster folk, rugby people to their fingertips, would have applauded the score had it not been for what Burger did once he’d touched down. The cheeky pup cupped his ear as if to say “We don’t hear you signing any more.” Bad mistake.
The great thing about Munster is that most of the players are actually from the province. We have a few high-profile imports, who by and large, a bit like the Anglo-Normans who came to Ireland in the 12th century, have become as much Munster as the natives. Given that such a big percentage of the players are of the province itself, it follows that their supporters should be made up of many of their family members, friends and neighbours.
Burger’s gesture was fundamentally disrespectful to the Munster fans, and by extension, the team. And when you do that to Munster, they will punish you. Just as Munster did to Perpignan yesterday.
Before the match, I wasn’t too hopeful that Munster would get much out of their visit to Stade Aime Girail. A losing bonus point would have been a decent day’s work, I reckoned. Munster hadn’t put in a truly convincing Heineken Cup performance since they dismembered the Ospreys in last year’s quarter final, and their away form this season was dismal. Things just weren’t clicking. The scrum was not performing as it should, the backs weren’t making their presence felt and ROG seemed to be trudging across the Valley of Lost Confidence.
Now, of course the reason behind Munster’s incredible performance yesterday may have had nothing at all to do with Burger’s little sideshow. It may have been Vivalda’s comment that he felt he was playing the Munster Academy in Thomond (mind you, the Academy provided a good few player to the team that only narrowly lost to the All Blacks last November twelve months.) Or maybe it was the players collectively deciding that they simply were not going to allow themselves to come out second best any more. Whatever it was, it worked.
As well as watching the match live (a big thank you to Aoife for taking her nap while the match was on), we Sky+’d it too and I watched it again last night. When you’re not concentrating on how the match might end up, it’s easier to be more analytical and appreciate the individual performances of the players. There were huge performances from all areas of the park. The dominance of the breakdown was a pleasure to behold. O’Connell at the lineout and the restarts. Leamy, Wallace and Quinlan hitting the rucks. Earls taking the ball at speed. ROG’s kicking. O’Leary’s breaks. Wallace’s defence. Warwick’s presence at the back. Quinny’s garryowens (his what??)
As the press said today, this was up there with the best of Munster’s previous smash and grab forays in the south of France. But, going back to my original point, did you see any Munster player disrespect the home crowd or their team?
No. Because it’s not the Munster way.
What you should never do when you come to Thomond is abuse that respect afforded to you. In the home fixture last Saturday night week, Phillip Burger of Perpignan scored a peach of a try. Most Munster folk, rugby people to their fingertips, would have applauded the score had it not been for what Burger did once he’d touched down. The cheeky pup cupped his ear as if to say “We don’t hear you signing any more.” Bad mistake.
The great thing about Munster is that most of the players are actually from the province. We have a few high-profile imports, who by and large, a bit like the Anglo-Normans who came to Ireland in the 12th century, have become as much Munster as the natives. Given that such a big percentage of the players are of the province itself, it follows that their supporters should be made up of many of their family members, friends and neighbours.
Burger’s gesture was fundamentally disrespectful to the Munster fans, and by extension, the team. And when you do that to Munster, they will punish you. Just as Munster did to Perpignan yesterday.
Before the match, I wasn’t too hopeful that Munster would get much out of their visit to Stade Aime Girail. A losing bonus point would have been a decent day’s work, I reckoned. Munster hadn’t put in a truly convincing Heineken Cup performance since they dismembered the Ospreys in last year’s quarter final, and their away form this season was dismal. Things just weren’t clicking. The scrum was not performing as it should, the backs weren’t making their presence felt and ROG seemed to be trudging across the Valley of Lost Confidence.
Now, of course the reason behind Munster’s incredible performance yesterday may have had nothing at all to do with Burger’s little sideshow. It may have been Vivalda’s comment that he felt he was playing the Munster Academy in Thomond (mind you, the Academy provided a good few player to the team that only narrowly lost to the All Blacks last November twelve months.) Or maybe it was the players collectively deciding that they simply were not going to allow themselves to come out second best any more. Whatever it was, it worked.
As well as watching the match live (a big thank you to Aoife for taking her nap while the match was on), we Sky+’d it too and I watched it again last night. When you’re not concentrating on how the match might end up, it’s easier to be more analytical and appreciate the individual performances of the players. There were huge performances from all areas of the park. The dominance of the breakdown was a pleasure to behold. O’Connell at the lineout and the restarts. Leamy, Wallace and Quinlan hitting the rucks. Earls taking the ball at speed. ROG’s kicking. O’Leary’s breaks. Wallace’s defence. Warwick’s presence at the back. Quinny’s garryowens (his what??)
As the press said today, this was up there with the best of Munster’s previous smash and grab forays in the south of France. But, going back to my original point, did you see any Munster player disrespect the home crowd or their team?
No. Because it’s not the Munster way.