European reaction - Sunday
October 19 2008
Sale Sharks boss Philippe Saint-Andre insisted Charlie Hodgson has a major role to play at the club after he came of the bench against Munster on Sunday and almost stole the show.
The discarded England fly-half was overlooked for the second successive match as Richard Wigglesworth retained the number ten shirt following last weekend's opener at Clermont Auvergne.
Sale won that game 32-15 in one of the great European victories by an English side but Hodgson had harboured hopes of a recall for the crunch clash with reigning champions Munster.
He entered the action shortly after the restart with his side 13-6 behind and engineered an impressive comeback which drew his side level at 16-16 - only for a late try from David Wallace to give Munster victory.
Saint-Andre - whose side failed to collect a bonus point - said: "Munster deserved the win because they were better than us.
"It's always easy to speak about decisions after the game than before the game.
"Last week Wigglesworth did very well against Clermont Auvergne and that team deserved another chance against Munster.
"I make the decisions - sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong.
"But Charlie is a fantastic player and in the five seasons that I've been here he has played all the time.
"Today when he came on he showed what he is capable of and he tried to create a lot of things around him.
"Charlie is an intelligent guy and a hard worker. I'm sure he will be fantastic for us this year.
"Munster came to do a job on us and they did, especially in the first half."
Indeed, the Irishmen confirmed their pedigree with a stellar first-half display which should have reaped far greater reward than a try and a drop-goal from full-back Paul Warwick, and a penalty and a conversion from Ronan O'Gara.
A 13-6 interval advantage in the visitors' favour did scant justice to their dominance of a Sale side who could not back up their impressive demolition of Clermont Auvergne.
Munster looked to be in total control going into the break but Luke McAlister claimed his third penalty and then converted a touchdown from Dean Schofield to level matters at 16-16 shortly before the hour mark.
However, Munster again proved their quality when flanker Wallace burrowed over in the right corner with 14 minutes remaining and although centre Lifeimi Mafi was sin-binned in the closing stages, the visitors held on comfortably as O'Gara had the final say with a classic drop-goal.
Munster coach Tony McGahan said: "There are areas for improvement because things are far from over.
"Clermont are going to be looking to bounce back and they're a top side.
"But this was another chapter in Munster's history and full credit to the players because they were outstanding today."
Elsewhere, Bath coach Steve Meehan is hoping the Dragons can prove a major stumbling block to rivals Toulouse in Pool Five of the Heineken Cup.
Meehan was forced to watch his own side's much-vaunted attacking game flounder repeatedly on the Welshmen's stubborn defence until Andrew Higgins' 67th-minute game breaker sealed an uncomfortably narrow 13-9 victory at the Recreation Ground.
"If they defend like they did today, they'll cause problems for anyone," said Meehan.
"They do work very hard for each other."
Reflecting on his own side's performance, he added: "We played some sound rugby but never really nailed it.
"We got turned over too often and Newport came out and defended very well, as we expected."
Meehan denied there had been a clear reaction to their own narrow defeat at Toulouse the previous weekend, saying: "We trained very, very well and there was never a fear that our preparation was poor or that we would suffer as a result of last week's disappointment.
"But we were not as mentally strong as we can be.
"It was difficult for the players but there were a couple of options up our sleeve that we had and didn't use.
"We will be upset with ourselves in that regard."
Meehan explained: "What we said at half-time was that we hadn't gone out and achieved what we needed to do.
"For instance, we talked about owning the ball - if you keep turning over the ball you make it easier for the opposition."
Dragons coach Paul Turner, though disappointed, said: "We felt we prepared well all week.
"We certainly thought we could beat Bath if we fronted-up for 80 minutes. It was our best defensive performance in the three years I've been at the club.
"The bonus point is a reward but Bath are the best footballing side in England, as we saw last week.
"Watching them against Toulouse was a bit frightening but today we couldn't quite get Bath playing as deep as we wanted them to."
Turner added: "I'm really proud of the players and the bonus point was well deserved."
Turner did have a special word for veteran back-row Colin Charvis, saying: "You could do with five of him.
"He is the best in the business with his nose over the ball.
"Our two Australian centres, Rory Sidey and Marc Stcherbina, also were excellent in defence.
"Having said that I've been coming down here for years with different clubs.
"It's deja vu doing well and losing in the last 10 minutes."
Meanwhile, Gloucester boss Dean Ryan accepts his team face "a big task" to reach the Heineken Cup quarter-finals following their 37-24 Millennium Stadium defeat against Cardiff Blues.
And Gloucester's pain did not end with a four-try loss either.
Fly-half Ryan Lamb (hip), full-back Olly Morgan (hamstring) and England number eight Luke Narraway (hamstring) all limped out of the contest as Blues triumphed.
Gloucester, Heineken quarter-finalists last season, are now unlikely to repeat that feat unless they win their four remaining Pool Six games, which includes a trip to Biarritz in January.
Ryan said: "It will be a big task now.
"This has put us on the back foot, and we will have to do something special at Kingsholm.
"I am disappointed we didn't win the game. I thought we had a lot of control, and I thought we looked very threatening.
"But the injuries were very disruptive, especially losing Ryan and Olly when we did (either side of half-time).
"I think it meant about five players changing positions, and we never looked the same back-line after the injuries.
"We are two games into the tournament, and Cardiff have still got to come to Kingsholm and play Biarritz back-to-back in December."
Blues' 19-year-old wing Leigh Halfpenny scored two tries, while wing Gareth Thomas and fly-half Nicky Robinson also touched down, but full-back Ben Blair's goal-kicking - 17 points from seven shots - ultimately made the difference.
Gloucester led 17-13 just before half-time, but they then conceded two converted tries in three minutes and never seriously recovered.
Morgan and wing Iain Balshaw (two) claimed Gloucester's tries, but Blues' record Heineken Cup crowd of 27,000 was not to be denied a home win.
Blues head coach Dai Young said: "We weathered a few storms out there.
"There were big parts of the game when it could have gone either way.
"We have four pool fixtures left, and we've got to win three of those - that has to be our focus.
"We are pleased to be where we are, but I know there are some hard games to come. We have given ourselves a good start - but that's all it is."
Young also hailed a superb man-of-the-match display from number Andrew Powell, whose performance might thrust him into autumn Test contention.
Wales coach Warren Gatland names his squad on Tuesday for appointments with South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and a back-row vacancy has arisen after Ospreys flanker Jonathan Thomas underwent groin surgery on Friday.
Young added: "That's probably the best we've seen from Andy for two or three seasons.
"He has been plagued by injuries, but he has always been a special athlete, and he really stood up for us today. I've not seen many better performances."