Shame on Francis for cheap shots at Munster pack

NEIL Francis isn’t afraid to mince his words, but sometimes the former Irish international second row goes way beyond the boundaries of fair comment. During the current season, he has already incurred the wrath of the Connacht and Leinster camps but last Saturday night, he came down heavy on Munster.

As a TV pundit on Setanta, Francis described the Munster pack as “frauds” and “ladyboys” following their exit to Leinster in the Magners League semi-final at the RDS. His over the top commentary showed scant respect or regard for a group of men who have been serving up heroic performances in the Munster jersey year in, year out.

Sure, the Munster front eight – shorn of the services of injured pair, Jerry Flannery and Paul O’Connell – were in trouble against their arch rivals, but I saw no Munster forward backing away from the challenge on Saturday night as they gave everything they had in trying to end the Red Army’s losing run of results against their hosts.

Francis, who many believe was an under-achiever in the Irish jersey, is entitled to his opinion but his harsh judgements are more akin to outpourings of a tabloid hack these days. He could be a lot more diplomatic in assessing teams’ and players’ performances and still get his point of view across, but obviously prefers to put the boot in.

His hardly the flavour of the season with Connacht either after his public put down of the squad earlier in the campaign – Francis described playing for Connacht as along the lines of: ‘turn up, get hammered, have a laugh and go to the pub’. It was completely unfair and unjustified, but the more Francis courts controversy, the more his media employers (Today FM, the Sunday Tribune and Setanta) probably like it. At this stage, his credibility should be on the rocks.

Given the arduous seasons the Munster and Leinster players have been through, it is to their credit that they again served up such a match of raw intensity. Another huge crowd turned up to see the latest collision between Irish rugby’s provincial heavyweights and they certainly weren’t disappointed as the two teams tore into the exchanges.

The only try of the match fittingly went to the comprehensive 16-6 winners. It came early in the second-half when the Leinster backline superbly created the opening for a smashing Rob Kearney score. With the fit-again Jonny Sexton landed the difficult conversion and Jamie Sexton having another towering match at number eight, the home team just had too much firepower for their gallant if aging opponents.

Leinster simply out-muscled, out-ran and out-fought Munster on the night. They are the new power of Irish rugby and, on Saturday night’s evidence, look set to continue their current mastery over Ronan O’Gara and company in the short to medium term. It is hard to see the Ospreys having any better luck against them in the upcoming Magners League final.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.