Munster have had their days, the All Blacks and all that, but beating Saracens 35-34 at Vicarage Road yesterday in a pulsating Heineken European Cup tie was the best of the modern, professional era. At the least it gave credence to the theory that this may even be the best Munster side in the making. For there's better to come.
Certainly, for sheer character it takes some beating. In 80 minutes they seemed to make more comebacks than Frank Sinatra, saving the best until last when coming back from 34-23 down in the last 10 minutes. The win takes them to the top of Pool D with a maximum four points, while it leaves Saracens pointless. It also makes the Munster side Ireland's most credible hope of reaching the knock-out stages of the European Cup.
After another previously grim weekend, which had yielded three defeats in three games for the Irish provinces in Europe, this was another timely shot in the arm. "After the demons of the World Cup, you've no idea how important it was to me to win the interpro championships and get this win here today," said Keith Wood afterwards, even more ebullient than normal.
Encapsulating the mood of the moment better than anyone, Wood added: "What happened out there today was pure unadulterated guts, even though we did go dead for 11 minutes or so in the second-half." Recounting the huge Munster scrum which helped to lift a late Saracens siege and underlined how much Munster wanted this one, Wood said: "We hosed them off it; eight fellows gave it everything and we hosed them off the ball."
Nonetheless, Wood was keen to provide a modicum of reality. "Putting it in the overall context, it's still only the second match," he said.
At times at the Watford home of the commercially vibrant Saracens, it was like being at a movie - blasts of Will Smith's Men in Black on greeting the home side at the start of each half, the pompom girls, the mobile tee-carrier, even a few bars from Rocky whenever there was an outbreak of fisticuffs. "I'm used to the noise, the razzmatazz, and the semi-naked women," joked Wood, suggesting that Munster were perhaps caught a little cold.
Even so, an unrewarded bout of pre-interval pressure, during which Wood was pretty certain he'd grounded the ball beyond the Saracens line, had at least given them belief. "Even though we were 21-9 down at half-time and we hadn't played, we knew we could do an awful lot better."
Echoing Wood's sentiments, Munster coach Declan Kidney observed: "For the first 20 minutes we handed them the ball. The first score of the second-half was all-important and we got it. It wasn't the perfect performance. There were more try-scoring opportunities which we didn't take and a few guys in there are disappointed with their own performances, but it shows the character of the team to score four tries in the second half against a side like Saracens.
"And these are the kind of matches you live for."
Despite rather laughable attempts from the home media to extract post-match criticisms of Munster's aggression from Francois Pienaar, and focusing in unjustifiably on Peter Clohessy, the impressive former Springbok and World Cup-winning captain literally laughed it off.
"They (Munster) just didn't stand back, they played. Credit to their forward pack that they scored those tries at the start of the second-half." Despite mostly bemoaning "incredible mistakes" and "silly turnovers", Pienaar added: "No complaints. We didn't deserve to win." A fitting postscript.
