David Corkery: Magical Munster roll back the years as Jack Crowley shows IRFU his worth, again
Another big win for Munster legend Peter O'Mahony in his last season before retiring. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
There was always going to be a loser in this fairytale fixture but thankfully there was no villain.
In the end all that separated these two former champions was a single point, but the winning of the game came about on the 69th minute when Jack Crowley dropped a magical goal and did to Ronan O’Gara what he had done to so many teams in the past.
There was still time on the clock but when Crowley pushed the gap out eight points it meant that La Rochelle had to score twice.
Evenly matched contests are decided on moments like that. I’m sure when this game is reviewed by O’Gara he will pin-point three or four key things that meant his side were in the desolate dressing room.
As expected, the French started the game at a million miles an hour and tried to simply blow Munster off the park with their power and pace. By hook or crook, Munster somehow managed to restrict them to crossing their white-wash on just one occasion.
After 20 minutes, everyone in the red corner was looking a bit worried. La Rochelle failed to fully capitalise on the possession and territory they commanded and when Munster full-back Thaakir Abrahams gathered a clearance kick, he magically stepped and swerved his way through a ragged defensive line, found Craig Casey on his shoulder and the pocket rocket did the rest.
7-7 and it was game on.
The hosts eventually left the field at half-time leading by three but morally Munster were sitting in the driving seat and it was clear to see that O’Gara’s troops were shell-shocked. The main reason why Munster were still in the game at this point was because of the dogged and relentless way they fought for everything.
Every break-down became a battle and every defensive confrontation resembled the opening scene to the movie . Thankfully no lives were lost or heads removed, but I can tell you now that both sets of players will have woken up on Sunday morning knowing that they were in one hell of a fight.
In victories of this nature, it is somewhat unfair to single out individuals, but I do believe that Calvin Nash, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley and the entire Munster front row must be applauded.
Nash is very quickly becoming a world-class act and his bravery on Saturday was just remarkable. Casey is Casey and his ability to speed up the tempo at which Munster play will play a major role in helping Munster clamber their way back to the summit of European rugby.
As for the Munster front row.... each and every one of them can pat themselves on the back for dealing with their opposing numbers because La Rochelle would have assumed they would have dominated at scrum time.
Every now and then there comes a game where you would like for there to be two winners, but sport doesn’t really offer us that.
Judging from the forlorn expressions that were etched on the faces of the La Rochelle players at the final whistle you could see that they truly gave everything they had in order to repay all that O’Gara has done for them, but on this occasion, they came up against a side that wanted it more.
Munster’s reward for their endless efforts on this occasion is a European Cup quarter-final tie where they will come up against the high flying Bordeaux.
I think this might spell the end of the line for Munster in this year’s competition, but where once there was nothing but darkness there now burns a very bright flame.
Let’s just hope this isn’t yet another false dawn.
App?
