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‘Tadhg gets in where water doesn’t’ – Van Graan

Munster boss hails the impact of experienced Ireland duo and ‘class’ Crowley

Leinster's Tadhg Beirne wins a lineout during the Heineken Champions Cup Pool B victory over Castres Olympique at Stade Pierre Fabre in Castres. Photo: Manuel Blondeu/Sportsfile

Cian Tracey Twitter Email

January 17 2022 02:30 AM

Cometh the hour, cometh the man in the iconic blue scrum cap.

With 75 minutes on the clock and the locals at Stade Pierre Fabre counting down to what would have been a famous Castres victory, Tadhg Beirne had other ideas.

Munster’s decision to go for the corner rather than take the three points on offer to bring them back to within one point looked to have proved very costly when they lost the subsequent lineout.

However, up stepped Beirne, who put himself into what has become his trademark jackal position, and after withstanding the force of two defenders attempting to clear him out, it was the Munster lock who won the turnover penalty.

Three minutes later, Gavin Coombes pounced to score the match-winning converted try, yet it was Beirne’s brilliant intervention that made it possible in the first place.

It was almost fitting too that Beirne, in some way, bailed Peter O’Mahony out, as it was ultimately his captain’s decision to roll the dice beforehand.

For all that the impressive Coombes grabbed the headlines with his last-gasp try and with the nerveless Jack Crowley kicking four from four, two of the older heads in Beirne and O’Mahony were at the heart of a Munster win that was forged up front.

With O’Mahony tormenting the Castres lineout and maul, Beirne was invariably alongside him, as the Ireland duo helped seal their side’s passage to the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup ahead of Sunday’s visit of Wasps to Thomond Park, where Munster will aim to secure one of the top seedings.

O’Mahony has already spoken about how much he has been enjoying his rugby lately and that is showing in his performances on the pitch, while Beirne continues to go from strength-to-strength.

Both men are set to be key members of Andy Farrell’s Six Nations squad over the coming weeks.

“Pete, the last two years specifically, I think he has been phenomenal,” Munster boss Johann van Graan said.

“The relationship between Tadhg and Pete has grown immensely. If I can use one example, if you think back to the autumn, when Ireland played the All Blacks, and the two of them came on together, and the difference they made.

“They have got such a good understanding in the lineout. They are two very good poachers and I think both are playing phenomenally good rugby.

“Pete, if you go and look back at his game, his breakdown work was immense, specifically with that kicking game. He gets in there.

“I think Tadhg, after the Lions tour, has taken his game to the next level. He is certainly one of the premier locks in world rugby.

“He is so unique in his poaching game, he gets in everywhere. Tadhg gets in where water doesn’t, in terms of his poaching.

“Two extremely good rugby players. I think they are world-class in what they do.”

O’Mahony’s cool head was vital in the closing stages last Friday night, especially considering he could easily have been ruffled after his big call in the closing 10 minutes had backfired.

Although the 32-year-old had been in a similar situation many times over the years, as he looked around him in the pressure cooker of one of France’s hot beds, he saw plenty of younger faces, including half-backs Craig Casey and Crowley.

Not for a second did he doubt that his Munster team were capable of pulling it out of the fire.

“I got a real sense of calmness and composure,” O’Mahony maintained.

“Craig came on, he was very direct in his messaging. Jack was class really for the 80 minutes.

“It’s a cliche, but it’s difficult to come to France and win. It doesn’t matter where you go in France, you’re working hard to get a win away from home.

“To have a young 10 like that, to perform with the composure that he did, particularly when things weren’t going our way.

“He was caught behind the line a couple of times and that can affect a guy’s confidence, do you know what I mean?

“But again, he stayed calm, he stayed to his process, he stayed to what we were planning on. We talked about it paying off in the last 10 minutes and that’s exactly what it did.”

For a 22-year-old making his first European start, it was never going to be perfect, yet Crowley showed further glimpses of why there is so much excitement around the Bandon out-half.

Whether it was from the tee, in attack or defence, Crowley was not fazed by what Castres and the baying home crowd threw at him.

“Before the game, I said to him, just go and enjoy it, lead us forward,” Van Graan added. “(I’m) Really happy with his performance.

“It was a real kicking battle and he kept his nerve. I think the most impressive thing was that last conversion that gave us the three-point lead.

“I am really happy for him to get the 80 minutes and you know, it just shows that he is a class player.

“For the group, what we spoke about is that it’s the next man up. These things happen and he and Jake (Flannery) will certainly play a lot of minutes in the future.”

With Wasps, fresh off a stunning win with 14 men over defending champions Toulouse, up next this weekend Crowley will hope for another chance to impress, and backboned by the scintillating form of Beirne and his right-hand man O’Mahony, Munster will be confident of finishing the pool stages with their 100pc record still intact.

‘Tadhg gets in where water doesn’t’ – Van Graan

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