All the posturing is over and we now know which the real contenders for trophies this season. Munster and Leinster for the Magners final, Leinster and Northampton in the Heineken Cup final and Saracens and Leicester will play in the Aviva Premiership decider. For all the other teams they can start packing for the beach and give their bodies a well deserved rest but they will have regrets which will leave a bitter taste in their mouths. I was down in Thomond Park on Saturday evening working for RTE TV on their coverage of the Magner’s League semi final between Munster and the Ospreys. There has been much debate over recent weeks about whether or not you can say that Munster have had a unsuccessful season or not when they won 19 matches from 22 in the Magner’s but there was a clear indication of what the Munster faithful think in that only 10,000 people turned up to see the game. They voted with their feet and the excuse that there was a lot of Holy Communions on in the area doesn’t cover up the obvious fall out.
The game itself was lifeless and Munster dominated proceedings for 80 minutes without putting the contest out of reach through some poor decision making in the Ospreys 22. Lifeimi Mafi was the chief culbrit as he kicked once when he should have held on and he passed another time when he should have ran with the try line at his mercy. The Ospreys never got out of 2nd Gear and there seems to be a serious issue with their Hunger and attitude. For a team with so many star players they are underachieving and the owners there must be questioning their decision to invest so much money in the region. They only brought 14 fans over to Limerick, which is a farce considering it was a semi final and they were the holders of the trophy.
Munster went back to basics for this game using David Wallace and Damien Varley as ‘one out’ ball carriers in an effort to suck in the Ospreys defence. They managed to go over 15 phases on 3 occasions but when they went to the backs they weren’t able to capitalize. On 3 occasions with points on offer Ronan O’ Gara decided to kick for the corner only for the Ospreys to disrupt Munster’s maul successfully. The only highlight from the game the impact of 21 year old centre Danny Barnes who scored two tries and looked very industrious. If Munster had of lost the match it would have been their 5th Semi Final in a row to lose. I think their display showed that their confidence has been hurt and with two weeks to prepare for the Final they will give a much improved display against Leinster.
Hopefully Leinster will be going to Thomond Park as Heineken Cup Champions.They have certainly been the best team in Europe this season but that will count for little as Northampton will look to win their 2nd European cup. I am heading over for the match and it promises to be a great occasion. The Flights and Ferries are booked up and they estimate that 40,000 fans from Ireland will be on the move this weekend. The key areas that Northampton are strong is their front row and the back three of Ashton, Foden and Diggins. But the Leinster scrum hasn’t taken a backwards step all season and I accept them to at least gain parity there. Likewise Leinster have looked composed in Defence out wide even when they were outnumbered and under pressure against Toulouse and Leicester and that will stand to them this weekend.
They suffered some injuries in their semi final win over Ulster the most notable being to Brian O’Driscoll and Richardt Strauss however I expect both to play. It will be a huge achievement if Leo Cullen can lead Leinster to a second Heineken Cup. This team are motivated to win as much silverware as possible over their careers and live their lives day to day with this in mind. A lot of teams want to win trophies but they don’t understand or aren’t willing to make the sacrifice on an individual level to do so. If Leinster can win two Trophies over the next fortnight they will be a long way towards creating a legacy.
I am confident that we can keep our run going with a European Double of Harlequins off scratch and Leinster at 2/5 which pays just over 6/4 with BetPack.
