“A few boys turned into men this week.”
Never was a truer word spoken by CJ Stander.
The Munster No.8, who wore 24 on Saturday, looked around the Thomond Park pitch and was inspired by the deeds of his teammates.
This is a Munster team that had meekly lost to Cardiff in Cork and had been out-fought by Leinster at the Aviva Stadium. Same team, same names, different Munster.
So many players had their best game in a Munster jersey on Saturday – Jaco Taute, Rory Scannell, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer, Tyler Bleyendaal. There could be more and we are open to suggestions.
Darren Sweetnam has had a couple of better performances but he was no less brilliant on a day Munster rocked Glasgow, secured a bonus point by the 47th minute and ran out 38-17 victors.
Sweetnam’s best contribution to the rousing win arrived in the 69th minute as he hared back across the pitch to prevent a Rory Hughes try that looked nailed on. Munster were down to 13 men at the time as Dave Kilcoyne was down with cramp.
Warriors punched a hole through Donnacha Ryan and Ian Keatley and we were left with a race for the Munster tryline. Sweetnam had to swivel and pin his ears back if he was to prevent the score.
With bounding strides, the former Cork hurling minor caught Hughes just before the 5-metre line and he swatted him to the turf before diving onto his ankles in an attempt to drag him out of play.
Unreal defence from Sweetnam here. Pace, dog, movement. A super day out for him pic.twitter.com/hTWwsn785E
— Three Red Kings (@threeredkings) October 22, 2016
Warriors kept the ball and survived a crunching Ryan tackle in the process.
The pressure eventually told as Mark Bennett got through for a score a minute later but all the talk was still of Sweetnam’s determination.
Sweetnam… #MUNvGLA #RIPAxel pic.twitter.com/NYoTLR8lXs
— The Oval Office (@theovaloffice10) October 22, 2016
Fantastic try saving tackle from Darren Sweetnam there
— Ádhamh de Bhuitiméir (@adambuttimer) October 22, 2016
What a tackle from Zebo and Sweetnam. Unreal defence #MUNvGLA
— Three Red Kings (@threeredkings) October 22, 2016
After the game, Stander spoke of the rapid step up the likes of Sweetnam and Rory Scannell have taken in recent weeks, and days. He said:
“A few boys turned into men this week. It’s the first time this happened to me and for them, their first time going through this in their professional careers. They showed what they can do and where they can be.
“I think Sweets is a world-class player and he’s only going to get better. It’s great to have him in the squad, the way he handles himself and how hard he works for the team. He wants to be the first in that jersey every week.”
If the young players, and recent foreign recruits, can replicate these levels of performance and commitment in the coming weeks and months, Munster should be able to live up to the potential Anthony Foley saw in them.
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