Yahoo Finance Shields red costs Wasps with Covid-hit Munster earning Champions Cup win
Maybe this is the way forward for rugby as a spectator sport. Pick two teams pretty much out of a tombola, mix Lions and World Cup winners with hastily-recruited academy kids and then watch them collectively deliver a cheerfully unscripted antidote to Covid defeatism. Despite neither side being remotely at full strength this was a crazily entertaining contest by most other measures.
Given Munster had around 34 individuals unavailable following their Covid-hit trip to South Africa, and had not played for seven weeks, the outcome will also be viewed as a minor miracle in Ireland, whose teams have had a properly epic European weekend. To Connacht smashing Stade Français, Ulster conquering Clermont and Leinster thumping Bath can now be added this unexpected Wasps walloping.
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A currently luckless Wasps will justifiably point to the 25th dismissal of their captain Brad Shields as a major turning point but the future, on this evidence, could be bright for the visitors, who had five debutants in their starting lineup and a similarly callow bench. They still had sufficient nous to take full advantage early in the second half when the home side were reduced to 13 men and a try bonus point was the cherry on the top for the delighted travelling fans.
Ian Costello, the Munster academy coach in charge of the first team for the day, described it as “extraordinary and “special” and his players could be rightly proud of the way they weathered a challenge which would have floored many others. Even scraping together 23 players in the first place proved tricky for both teams, with almost 60 players ruled out between them. Munster have never dipped this deeply into their academy well and Wasps were almost as hamstrung, missing 18 through injury before recording eight positive tests on the eve of the game.
Jacob Umaga, Sebastian de Chaves, Elliot Stooke and Tom Willis were all ruled out on the eve of the game following their final round of Covid testing, leaving their director of rugby Lee Blackett fearful that he might not be able to raise a side. “We only had 25 to pick from, that’s all we’ve got left,” said Blackett. “It’s been a difficult 48 hours. This time yesterday I couldn’t see this game going ahead.”
Anyone turning up in Coventry unaware of the fraught buildup would have left wondering if rugby is always this bonkers. A madcap game veered wildly in terms of its momentum, the unfamiliarity of many combinations proving a recipe for chaos even without the referee Romain Poite’s enduring love of a vigorous breakdown contest.
Poite’s key decision, though, was the dismissal of Shields, whose upright tackle on a charging Dave Kilcoyne was adjudged to be worthy of red even though the Munster player was rising towards him at the last. At first glance it looked a possible yellow card but slow motion replays tend to be less forgiving and Wasps suddenly had another yet massive forward hole to fill.
Both coaches also had cause to wince at the injury toll, with Wasps now anxiously awaiting injury updates on Nizaam Carr and Gabriel Oghre ahead of this weekend’s scheduled trip to Toulouse for which Shields is now likely to be suspended. Munster, in turn, will be hoping the shoulder knock Joey Carbery suffered after a thumping tackle from Robin ‘Bomber’ Hislop is not as bad as it initially looked.
For the likes of Scott Buckley, officially named the star of the game, Patrick Campbell and Daniel Okeke, however, this was absolutely a day to remember. Buckley, scorer of Munster’s fourth try which secured a priceless bonus point, made a striking impact at hooker while Campbell, a law student at the University of Limerick, showed decent pace in bursting through a midfield hole for his own debut score.
The experience of Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Tadhg Berne and the skipper Peter O’Mahony was also instrumental, not least O’Mahony’s brilliant cover tackle on a flying Thomas Young which set the early visiting tone. A sidestepping Alfie Barbeary, starting his first game since March, finished off a helter-skelter passage of play to put his side ahead 7-6 after Shields’ departure but either side of half-time the visitors took a grip on the contest via tries from Earls and Campbell.
Wasps, who also lost Barbeary at half-time with a hamstring twinge, were occasionally their own worst enemies, a loose midfield pass gifting a score to Conway but ultimately it was the 21-year-old Buckley, helped by a forward pass from Beirne, who popped up to complete one of the more auspicious away days even in Munster’s fabled European history.
