Heineken Cup Review - Harlequins 12 - 18 Munster

Everybody has a favourite comic-book hero.  Boring people tend to like the tediously clean-cut Superman (the Jonny Wilkinson of the superhero world), whilst others lean more towards Spiderman or Batman, depending on how tight they like their lycra suits on men.  My favourite?  The Incredible Hulk (and also Catwoman, but for very different reasons).  I tend to get wound up quite a bit, especially when watching games or playing in them, and the thought that getting angry would somehow improve my performance levels as opposed to making me seem like a red-faced cretin having a mantrum (a grown-up tantrum) is very appealing to me.  Of course, this will never happen, and I will continue to embarrass myself when I get cross, but there is one man who has a Hulk-like ability to destroy those who stand against him when he feels 'the rage' – whatever you do, don't cross Paul O'Connell when he's angry.

I mentioned in my Pre-Six Nations Lions XV that he would have to really turn in some exceptional performances to get noticed – and his showing on Sunday against Harlequins was just the ticket, leading Munster in a superb second half display that oozed the same physicality as a herd of livid rhinoceros.   Harlequins were simply blown away in a manner not dissimilar to England against the Welsh in Cardiff – they are a talented side and capable of some gorgeous rugby at times, but Sundays loss (their 4th on the bounce) was a sharp reminder that, sometimes, there is no substitute for 'getting your mad up' (as my old man refers to it).

It didn't start all rosey though for the Irish side.  They were plagued by a creaking scrum (with some admittedly questionable calls) and a stodgy attack, giving Harlequins field position and 3 penalty goals from fly half Nick Evans, although he did miss a fourth attempt with a horrible shank.  Ronan O'Gara, meanwhile, missed 2 easy opportunities early on in the half, before eventually finding his range and knocking over a couple before half time.  Munster, though, were starting to control the territory game, with O'Gara and Conor Murray pulling the strings nicely, and were nullifying the hosts' danger men, with Nick Easter unable to gain any significant yardage and Danny Care turned over on several occasions.

At 9-6 ahead, Harlequins should have come out with renewed vigour, but instead it was the men in red who came out with a real fire in their belly – and none more so than their inspirational captain Paul O'Connell, who continued to create mayhem in the lineout.  The powerful James Downey and the superb Peter O'Mahony both made significant yardage with barrelling runs which yielded penalties from the home defence, and O'Gara converted both chances.  The veteran 10 then added another 3 points to punish a holding on offence from Maurie Fa'asavalu before one of the moments of the match caused the entire crowd to wince in sympathy.  Mike Brown picked up a clever kick from O'Gara and decided to run the ball out of defence.  He skipped out of a couple of challenges, hit the accelerator…and was utterly destroyed by Downey in one of the biggest hits of the season. 

Evans and O'Gara traded penalties as Quins desperately tried to get back into the game, with Chris Robshaw doing his best to get his hands on the ball, but every time they got into a promising position, they were hammered back by an angry red wall, or forced into mistakes – with the disappointing Tom Casson particularly culpable on several occasions – and the host's resistance dwindled out.

The final score was 18 – 9 to Munster, and Clermont have been warned ahead of the semi-finals.  Don't make Paul O'Connell angry.  You won't like him when he's angry.