
If you haven’t seen the Munster-All Black game that was played on Tuesday night, stop reading this post (spoilers galore!) and go watch it. It was the best game of rugby I’ve seen in a long time. Finally, the ABs found a northern hemisphere team that knows how to play real rugby.
New Zealand very nearly didn’t win. Munster were leading until the 75th minute and they, along with their 26,000 Red Army, knew they were on the verge of something historic.
Forget Ireland and that tepid performance at Croke Park on Saturday! This game was about pride in the red jersey and the 15 old men sitting in the VIP seats who had defeated the ABs back in 1978. There were 15 young men on the field who had every intention of joining them.
Munster played with a provincial passion that saw them pile into every break-down and smash loosies and half-backs at every opportunity. Never mind how the scrum held up – it’s what they were doing when the ball came out that impressed me. Fortunately Liam Messam had an MVP-performance at Number 8, but Piri Weepu, captaining NZ for the first time, was frequently hit before he could off-load. Peter Stringer remains a world-class scrum-half in my book and in terms of passion, he had the edge over his opposite number.
The game opened with a haka performed by the four New Zealanders on the Munster team. The All Blacks held back with their’s and watched Rua Tupoki et al. while the crowd went berserk. It was a sight to behold. Who would’ve thought that a haka of four ex-pats could upstage an All Black haka? Just brilliant.
As for the game? It was manic, free-flowing, fast-running, chaotic and barely controlled rugby. For once a northern hemisphere ref let the players get on with it and the crowd loved it. (Promote that man Paddy!) The only time the fans stopped their deafening roar was for kicks. Penalties on both sides were kicked in total silence. Amazing.
This was only the second time the two teams have met since the AB’s scoreless loss on Halloween in 1978 and this was the first return to Thomond Park. The sense of occasion seemed to bring out the best in the Munster boys while the ABs gave me the impression they were playing for black jerseys. There were moments of sublime skills punctuated by dumb errors.
Stephen Donald had an awesome first half then went cold as ice in the second. He missed four kicks in a row, just to keep things interesting. Joe Rokocoko was both hero and villain. He let in Munster’s only try (to Barry Murphy) by being generally AWOL on the left wing most of the night, then scored the game-winning try by playing his position in the dying minutes.
Munster had some nice moves, particularly the one off the scrum that led to a try. But they kicked possession away far too often in the second half. To all the Irish lads out there, hearken now unto the gospel of Richie as preached in Canterbury: “get the pill and hang onto it.”
The ABs looked threatening whenever they got the ball – they just couldn’t hold onto it. There was a sense that the breakthrough try must come at any time, but the Munster boys did all they could to kill the momentum. I don’t know if it was tactical or if they were really playing beyond their limits, but with every stoppage of play in the last quarter there would be 2 or 3 red players on the ground catching their breath, or stretching their hammies. It seemed that every few minutes another player was going off injured. Full credit to the locals for giving it their all.
But in the last 10 minutes the wind went out of the Munster sails. Brad Thorn came on to steady the twitchy Kiwi pack and Mils Muliani brought much-needed composure to the backs. A driving maul from the ABs steam-rolled its way downfield and this led to some sweet-passing and the game-winning try on the far wing.
Munster did have one more shot at winning the game, but an odd kick from the otherwise reliable Paul Warwick ended up in touch and it was all over. It was a great contest from both sides. Munster did their province proud and very, very nearly repeated history.
Note to the NZRU – never go back to Thomond Park!