Apparently Munster Not All They’re Cracked UpTo Be

The latest excerpt from The Bridget-Lyn Jones Diary informs an unsuspecting world that contrary to popular belief Minster are not God s gift to rugby.

The latest excerpt from The Bridget Lyn Jones Diary informs an unsuspecting world that contrary to popular belief Minster are not God s gift to rugby. And furthermore, least there be any confusion, it appears that in fact the Munster players are, human beings like everybody else.

So those of us who thought that Foley, Hayes, O Gara et al were from the Planet Zog, ran on long-life Duracell batteries and ate Kryptonite, were sadly misled. Thanks to Lyn(ette) Jones we now know they come from such earthly places as Killaloe, Cappamore and even Cork for God s sake, some might even eat quiche.

And furthermore Indiana Jones has discovered that in fact these Munster beings get things wrong if you apply, not a lot, just a bit of pressure.

Now there s a startling observation and one no doubt that will have a sobering effect on the Munster squad, management and supporters, never mind their opponents.

But the good news is that the evidence is there to show that Gaffney s ex-walkers-on-water appear to deal with pressure a tad better than the Jones gang.

For instance, last season Jonesy (remember the character in Dads Army ?) led his Ospreys to last place in Pool 2 of the Heineken Cup and the previous season when he was in charge of Neath he coached them to finish a distant second in a Pool 1 that included Amatori/Calvisano and Beziers.

But that aside, this is a good Ospreys team, a fact acknowledged by Munster coach Alan Gaffney before last Saturday s game and immediately afterwards when he said, They are a good side and you have to give them credit for the way they hung in there with fourteen men for over half the game. Yes there is history between the sides but it s a very competitive history. There were issues at the Gnoll in the last game but those issues have been dealt with and we ve put those (issues) away. We have to move on from that. Ospreys are a fine side make no mistake about that.

Moving on is something the Ospreys coach seems to have some difficulty with. He might serve his talented players and their supporters better if he were to inject a smidgeon of graciousness and or a small degree of sportsmanship into his curmudgeonly make-up.