It was going to be a long day, but we hoped it would be worth it. Senan and I had just got up before 5 am; the taxi was due at 5.15 and there should be time for breakfast at the airport. We were flying to Birmingham at 7.30. The occasion? - the Heineken Cup final in Cardiff where the 2 giants of the tournament Munster and Toulouse were playing. Toulouse are trying for their unprecedented 4th trophy while Munster have lost 2 finals before finally beating Birritz in 2006.
I bought the tickets for the final last November. It was a pretty good bet with both Munster and Leinster doing well at the time. In fact Munster had the much more difficult task to get out of their group with Wasps, Clermont and Llanelli. Leinster were facing the Leicester Tigers; Toulouse and Edinburgh - not an easy group either. In the end Leinster lost out by failing to beat the weakest team (Edinburgh) away from home.
I had also purchased tickets in advance the previous year and when Munster were out and it was a Wasps v Tigers final, I was able to log onto the Tigers fans website and had the pair sold (at face value) to genuine fans in 30 minutes! So buying the tickets in November is not a bad trick and pretty low risk. Unless there were 2 French teams in the final it should be easy to unload.
The plane was full of Munster supporters. Some were taking a train to Cardiff and more were driving. We arrived in Birmingham on time and managed to make it to the car hire desk pretty quickly and while we were not the first we did avoid most of the queue that formed quickly behind us. We managed to get our car and get on the road pretty smartly.
The route was all plotted out on google map and it was motorway all the way. We made one amendment after seeing on the big motorway message boards that there were long tailbacks at the M5 M4 junction- we then remembered that it was a Bank Holiday week-end in UK. The signs were in plenty time to make a detour via Ross On Wye which was motorway some of the way and then dual carraigeway - it was a slightly more direct route and we discovered afterwards that it was a very good choice - there were long delays at the M4! In any event as the kick-off was not until 5 pm we had lots of time! We were parked (park and ride) and in the city centre by about 12.30.
The place was already a sea of red. Of course Toulouse are Red and Black! But the Munster fans were by far the greater numbers though the French did make their presense felt!
We made our way through the crowds to Cardiff Castle - its a good way to put down an hour or so in Cardiff. Our tour had it's fair share of Munster supporters! After the Castle we found a nice Italian café and had lunch. Beside the café there was a second hand bookshop which had a pretty extensive Marvel Comics section - so Senan was in his element. He made a few good value purchases and before we knew it it was 3.30 and time to start making our way to the stadium. It's all very compact in Cardiff and it wasn't long before we were in position and waiting for the gates to open.
We were amoung the first into our section. The anticipation was strong. The opening ceremony just took too long - or so it seemed. Soon the teams were lined up and ready to start. Munster in Blue and Toulouse in Red. The noise was fantastic.
Nigel Owens, the Welsh referee, was playing his usual strict game and Munster were the first to suffer under his tough regime. After just four minutes Munster conceeded a kickable penalty - however Jean Babtiste Ellisade managed to push it wide. What a let off! But Ellisade made no mistake with a drop goal 2 minutes later - Toulouse go 3-0 ahead. Toulouse continue to pile on the pressure and mount a sustained assault the Munster try line for the first quarter. However Toulouse didn't use those early chances and the Munster defence was superb.
Finally after 30 minutes Munster began to take the attack into Toulouse territory. Doug Howlett made a great run and Hurley was stopped just short of the line. Now the cheering and the singing started. Whenever there was a lull in our section of the stand there were four or five mad supporters who stood up and exorted everyone to start cheering and singing - it worked every time!
Five minutes later Munster are now piling the pressure on - its slow and patient ans sustained - Denis Leamy looks like he got a try but was deemed to have just lost control at the point of downing. But just a couple of minutes Leamy got another chance and this time there was no doubt - it was the drive that got us there. O'Gara slotted over the conversation - you can see how close to the post Denis Leamy was so no great marks to O'Gara! But 2 minutes later, the Nigel Owens factor kicked in again and he awarded a penalty against Toulouse. O'Gara only needs half a chance and we went into the second half 10-3 ahead. Just where you would want to be!
The second half started with Toulouse putting on pressure, but 10 minutes in Pelous threw a petulent kick against Alan Quinlan and the ref took no nonsense and put in the sin bin for 10 minutes. a minute later O'Gara kicked another penalty and we were not 13-6 ahead and feeling pretty confident. But you can never keep a team with this much class down for very long. Heymanns made a quick throw to himself, and gathered, kicked ahead collected it and then chipped ahead again and Donguy picked it up and went over for a try. What a wonderful piece of magic. Ellisade got the conversation and so we were back to 13 all. We were beginning to feel a little worried - Toulouse could come with a storming finish yet - especially when you see how easily they can score something from nothing.
But Munster persist with the game plan and ten minutes later in the 65th minute they manage to get another penalty. O'Gara does the business - back in front. From there on the game became one big patient Munster scenario. It was controlled and relectless. They ignored kicking chances and kept the ball in hand. It was not pretty, but it was very tense and the only way to go against a team who had just demonstrated that they can manufacture a try out of thin air.
What a day - Munster ground out a 16-13 victory by adapting to all of the conditions in a much more composed way than Toulouse. Firstly there was the closed roof - Wales generally prefer to play with the roof closed - the crowd are louder; the calls for both teams are harder to hear so the away team are at an even greater disadvantage. With the size of the Munster support together with the fact that Munster won their first Heineken Cup in the same venue 2 years ago - there was no doubt that Munster were the home team at this venue.
What was really impressive was the way that Munster shut down the game for the last 15 minutes. It wasn't pretty to watch - unless you were a Munster fan. I read later that Ellisade was particularly upset after the game. He called the tactics "anti-rugby; not rugby". While you can understand the frustration it is not fair to call it anti-rugby - its what Australia did to England in 1993; its what England always did; its what France did to New Zealand in the last world cup. You play to your strengths and neutralise the strengths of the opposition. That exact what Munster did and exactly what Toulouse failed to do. Saying "its not fair" after you lost is not much help!
So Declan Kidney has made up for his early heart-breaking loss of 2 Heineken Cup finals, to Northhamption in 2000 when, on a windy day in Twickenham, Ronan misses a penalty by centimetres and in 2002 when a wily Neil Back got the leicester Tigers over the line. Robbed twice he now has won twice. He now heads off back to the Irish natioanl team set-up where instead of playing second fiddle to an uncooperative Eddie O'Sullivan he will have the top job. We expect he will use his skills and his motivational head games to get the most out of the National team. If he can produce two Heineken Cups for Munster maybe he can get a world Cup for Ireland?
We don't ask for much now, do we?
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