Final Score: Munster 15 – Australia 6
If you bustled off to work instead of bunking off to watch this travesty, THEN WELL FUCKING DONE.
What happened? Well, it’s hard to describe what Australia actually did in this match.
Yes it was pissing down. Yes there was a gale whistling down from one end of the field – to the point where there was no point try to kick at all from one direction – the ball would just end up behind you. But this was supposed to be squad members from (until last weekend) the second ranked nation in the world against a patched together provincial team missing its internationals. And of course, both teams played in the same conditions.
I can’t bring myself to go through each of the scintillating seven goals that were kicked. So here’s the vibe.
As Richo said on the G&GR live call,
If Berrick Barnes had a super power, it would be not seizing the opportunity
In a night made for a supposed “closer”, his theme tune was Yakkity Sax. If he wasn’t dropping stone cold pills, he was missing touch on penalties or hoofing it aimlessly down midfield, even with a force 10 cyclone behind him. I can’t remember one play outside of him that didn’t degenerate into a total cluster-fuck, and that’s not to say that his inside balls were any better, they too sucked. Burgess didn’t help, it wasn’t a night for wild passes or poor box kicks, both of which he excelled at.
In the pack, the Wallabies decided throwing long was the go in a force 9, and couldn’t guess the opposition might throw to 2. Good news was that the scrum was obviously dominant and the short running game paid dividends, despite the team electing not to use it. Hodgson was a stand out and when he left the field around the 50 minute mark the breakdown completely fell apart.
In the end, Munster played perfectly to the conditions, the Wallabies as if they were on Mars. However, special mention has to be made of Bryce Lawrence. To say he was inconsistent would be a dramatic understatement, and he wasn’t happy until he’d managed to yellow card two Wallabies for the most spurious of calls. I’d thought the days of farcical home refs for tour days had gone – obviously not.
Munster 15 (Paul Warwick 3 penalty goals, 2 drop goals) defeated Qantas Wallabies 6 (Berrick Barnes 2 penalty goals) at Thomond Park, Limerick. (Half time: 6-all) (Crowd: 24,500) (Referee: Bryce Lawrence)
