This weekend sees the return of the premier club rugby knockout competition in the world. It’s Heineken Cup Quarter-Final time and you can take your pick from the remaining eight teams as to who will walk off with the trophy in six weeks time in Paris. One of the most intriguing ties pits two time champions Munster against sole English representatives Northampton Saints in a repeat of their Pool A decider back in January which ended in a narrow 12-9 victory for the Red Army.

Northampton season ticket holders Sean Morrow and Andy Birnie are regular away day travellers in the Guinness Premiership and with the prize at stake on that day, they couldn’t turn down the opportunity for a visit to Limerick and their first Heineken Cup  ‘tour’. It was also a chance for Sean to make a kind of pilgrimage to the land of his father, who had played for local club side Young Munster in the late 1940’s. They set off for a three day trip of drink, rugby, more drink, a bit more rugby and probably some more drink. Sean’s diary tells the story…


Thursday 21st January

11am - Left at 5.30 this morning for the hour flight to Munster land. Have set up base camp and will be exploring the local culture shortly.

2pm - Just met a Munster fan in Clohessy’s Bar who asked me if this was our first time in the Heineken Cup and were we enjoying it? (Northampton beat Munster 9-8 in the 2000 final!) You should have seen the look on the face of his girlfriend and mates around him who were a bit more clued up. I just smiled sweetly as the word ‘eejit’ filled the air in that lovely Irish brogue.

4pm - Sat in the pub chewing the fat with a well travelled Munsterman discussing the decline of club rugby as he sees it, in favour of the provincial corporate money grabbing game. In particular, Young Munster, a team both he and my father had played for that used to attract thousands to their matches but now struggle to get a few hundred. Will hopefully get to see them play on Saturday.

5pm - Went on a pilgrimage to my father’s birthplace and was pleasantly surprised to find that a pub has now been extended into what was his old house. I took this as a sign that he wanted me to have a drink. So I did.


Friday 22nd January – Match Day

3.30pm - In Clohessy’s again, full of Saints shirts and warming up nicely. Approx 1200 Saints fans have made the trip.

4.45pm - A rousing rendition of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ breaks out in the bar as we try to go one up in the song stakes. Affectionately known to Northampton fans as ‘Oh Wendy’ (‘Oh-wen-dee-Saints-go-marching-in etc.), the performance drew some amused looks but the Munster response was deafening in its silence.

6pm - Make way to the game, the road is now crawling with red shirted Munster fans like a troop of army ants.


7.45pm - Stood in the South stand at Thomond Park and the hairs on the back of my neck are raised as we hear a thunderous version of Munster’s song ‘Stand Up and Fight’, followed by ‘The Fields of Athenry’ - what an atmosphere!

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The Game - First half was a little disappointing from a Saints perspective as we kicked almost everything but considering the pressure Munster were exerting, quite understandable. The second half saw a change in pressure as the Saints slowly began to match if not slightly take the upper hand against the men in red. Then came the curious sin binning of Munster captain Paul O' Connell and the award of a penalty in their twenty-two - surely Saints would earn a penalty try against a scrum we were beginning to dominate?

Unfortunately, Munster’s fans filled the void of their skipper as an angry Thomond Park produced a cacophony of sound and the players responded manfully to produce their best period of play. The game ended on a sour note with the officials not noticing or ignoring the serious injury to Saints’ lock Christian Day. We were a bit surprised we didn’t run the ball more and even at 12-6 down we were surprised they went for the penalty with five minutes still left. It looked like we lacked a bit of ambition against a Munster side there for the taking.

Post Match Wash-Up - After a swift, hot Bushmills whisky, we headed back to town to drown our sorrows. Firstly at Flannery's (one of five in Limerick) and then on to Clohessy's for the Craic. The Munster fans were magnanimous in victory and a few even said we had given them a real scare but agreed that we lacked the ambition to win it. However, most of the comments regarded the match officials’ lack of urgency in dealing with the serious injury to Day. Even in rugby mad Munsterland, life is more important.

After a fair while cavorting around town, we went back to the hotel for a night cap when twenty Munster fans walked in. We couldn’t leave them drinking on their own so we joined them and ended up being kicked out of the bar at 5:30 the next morning! The fans were from Cork and in contrast to the Limerick local I spoke to yesterday, they were much happier with the rise of provincial rugby as where they come from the sport’s gone from "the ninth most important sport behind table tennis to every kid wanting to be Paul O'Connell or Ronan O'Gara".


Saturday 23rd January

11ish - Woke up to a foggy morning, went for a bite to eat in the local cafe and digested the match reports in the Irish papers. Took a stroll to Rosbrien to watch the ‘Cookies’ (the nickname for Young Muster) take on Ballynahinch. After arriving, I decided I was feeling a little too jaded - aka hungover - to stand on the touchline so I retreated to the club house bar to watch the match and absorb as much of the history around me as I could. Twenty minutes into the game I felt a large presence behind me. I’m 6ft 3in but I turned around to find myself looking up at 6ft 8in Paul O’Connell! Turns out he was there to cheer on his club team and he’d brought along fellow ‘Cookie’ - Munster and Ireland international Keith Earls - and gun Springbok centre Jean de Villiers to keep him company. It was a memorable end to three days spent enjoying the magic world of rugby.


Postscript

Saturday 10th April HC Quarter-Final Munster v Northampton – Let’s do it all again!!

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