Munster went into their Champions Cup quarter final without Keith Earls, Tommy O’Donnell, Chris Farrell, Jaco Taute, Tyler Bleyendaal, Chris Cloete and Duncan Williams. After 25 minutes, they lost Simon Zebo.
Toulon head coach Fabien Galthie did not mean it as an insult, post-match, when he said this Munster side finds its’ greatest strength through the team ethos rather than individual brilliance. “This is not a star team,” observed Galthie after witnessing his team dominate long stretches at Thomond Park only to lose 20-19.
Munster fans would happily reel off the names of several players that took star turns in a thrilling last eight clash. Peter O’Mahony did likewise in his post-match press conference.
“Look, we never really talk about the injuries we have or… there are very few teams, today, that can pick from a full deck. The Munster team picked today was the Munster team, you know what I mean? That’s Munster’s best team and we’ve a standard that we expect ourselves to play at.
“We have a standard that we expect, especially if we are going to win in Europe, in a knock-out stage. That was our thought process. We weren’t worried about who was injured. It’s unfortunate that we have some of the best players in the world out injured but no-one plays with a full deck any more.”
O’Mahony admitted that he could reel off the name of each player in the squad when it came to doling out praise but he did reserve some nice words for the entire Munster backline, replacement Darren Sweetnam and two forwards.
“I thought the backs were superb today, it was one of the best performances from a Munster backline against a team of world-class athletes. Our back three put in last-ditch tackles and took a lot of momentum away from them.
“It was certainly up there [in terms of performances],” he added. “Guys dug in. Andrew Conway there, a lot of guys would have been happy to let the ball go out – leave the forwards to go for a maul or set-piece play – but that’s a piece of unusual brilliance and we’re lucky enough to have these kind of guys in our team.”
Munster’s back three, once a brave but unlucky Simon Zebo left the fray, all made big defensive plays as the province were forced to weather several storms. Alex Wootton, Conway and Darren Sweetnam all prevented red-hot scoring chances for Toulon while O’Mahony also gushed about the midfield pairing of Rory Scannell and Sam Arnold, who shut down “momentum-givers” Mathieu Bastareaud and Ma’a Nonu for long stretches.
O’Mahony then moved on to Jack O’Donoghue and Stephen Archer.
“I thought Jack was outstanding. His carrying, when we needed him to carry, was superb. His decision-making around our defence was superb, breakdown-wise, and I also thought Archer was superb in the latter part of the tackle. I think he put their breakdown under a lot of pressure from a lot of forwards, as well, but I must say the backs were exceptional.”
Although he did not get a mention in the press briefing, O’Mahony did also note Billy Holland’s lineout leading, and calling, during what was a tense, tumultuous victory.
