Crowd’s Support Unreal

So often we hear talk of the importance of Munster supporters to their side’s cause and evidence of the influence of Munster 16th man was never more apparent than on last Friday night.

The noise levels were comparable to that November 2008 night when the All Blacks were in town and reached a crescendo in the 60th minute as Munster packed down without Paul O’Connell in a series of five metre scrums. Players afterwards spoke of the effect of the crowd support at that point with Alan Quinlan probably summing it up best when he said,

“They were brilliant. We couldn’t hear ourselves think never mind talk. But I remember thinking, how could we let these people down now. It was a collective thing. I looked at Wally and Hayes and knew they were thinking the same.” “It was like a massive wave of sound crashing in on the field. When you’re playing it’s different. If it’s a lineout, it’s like would they shut up a minute until I hear the call. And you don’t really get the whole effect. You’ll hear the noise. Sometimes its sporadic, sections of the crowd, maybe nearest where the action is. But on Friday looking at them, they were all roaring their support, the whole stadium. It was just fantastic. And I have no doubt it made all the difference at that stage when we were down to 14 and they were going at us in the scrum.”

“Never experienced anything like it. Anywhere in the world,” was Wian du Preez’s reaction. “Ya, it was awesome, just awesome, right throughout the game but towards the end unreal. The crowd support that night is something I will keep with me forever.”

“Of course I am sad to be going home. I couldn’t have asked for a better send off and to this team and those wonderful supporters I say Thank you.”