O’Donoghue stars as Munster power past Leinster
Munster's Jack O’Donoghue celebrates winning with his brother Nick after the game.
Waterford’s Jack O’Donoghue was a key cog in the machine on Saturday evening as Munster walked off the hallowed turf of Croke Park with all five points in the bag.
Starting at openside flanker, O’Donoghue knew exactly what his role would be in Croker and fulfilled his duties with the kind of hard-nosed grit that has seen the 31-year-old become a true leader in this Munster squad.
Coming up against Josh Van Der Flier - one of the best number sevens in the game and a recent winner of the World Player of the Year Award - O’Donoghue more than held his own, doing the dirty work on the floor that ensured Leinster never managed to get any quick ball.
The four tries look good, but make no mistake, it was Munster’s defence that won the game – and O’Donoghue was pivotal to that, showing incredible work-rate to hit rucks time and time again with ruthless efficiency and ferocious accuracy at the breakdown.
He was a dominant force in the lineout and further exemplified Munster’s hard-working ethos by getting through 18 tackles.
There was a lovely moment after the game as O’Donoghue got to celebrate the victory with his brother, Nick.
Speaking of brothers, O’Donoghue’s brother-in-arms, Tadhg Beirne, delivered a captain’s display alongside Jack on the flank in what was his first game back since being named Player of the Series in the British and Irish Lions’ triumph in Australia during the summer.
Beirne delivered a performance that very few players anywhere in the world could hope to emulate once or twice, let alone on the consistent basis that Munster’s skipper achieves. Truly a standard-bearer in world rugby.
Speaking after the game, Beirne commended the mood in the Munster camp since new coach Clayton McMillan has taken over, saying: “The vibe around the place is brilliant; people are enjoying it.
“Clayton himself has brought that good – I hate using the word ‘culture’ - but I suppose it is a different type of culture than probably what we had over the last year and it’s been brilliant.” Hard work was a real theme of Munster’s victory and McMillan highlighted that in his post-match press conference, saying: “We wanted to work hard for each other tonight, we wanted to win all the little moments, and we did that.” The New Zealand coach went on to say, “We wanted to be the hunters, not the hunted”, as the mindset seems to be turning a corner at the province.
There were 51,859 inside Croke Park as the eyes of the rugby world were fixed on one of the sport's biggest games.
There aren't too many rugby fixtures that can attract that attention, let alone a club game, let alone a regular-season club game. But this is no ordinary game. This is a game widely considered to be the biggest derby in club rugby anywhere in the world.
Nothing was won, lost or decided on Saturday, but the result could spur on a whole new generation of players and fans alike to believe Munster can regain their place at the top table.
Not many saw this result coming – least of all Andy Farrell. The Ireland Head Coach is under intense scrutiny for his squad for the Autumn Internationals that includes 21 Leinster players and just 13 from across the other three provinces, with only four from Munster (including Ardmore’s Tom Ahern, who missed the Croke Park clash as he returns from HIA [Head Injury Assessment] protocols.) The Leinster fallacy is beginning to unravel after years of failing to live up to their potential, delivering just one trophy in the last four years and last lifting the coveted Champions Cup as far back as 2018 – an extremely poor return considering the players, facilities and money at their disposal.
Eventually, Munster’s new lease on life will have to be recognised by Farrell and his coaches. For now, however, O’Donoghue and company can count their 19 points from four games and plan for Saturday when they put their 100% record on the line as they welcome Connacht to Thomond Park.
