‘To come to Pairc Ui Chaoimh and to make history, it’s incredible.’
On an historic night at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Jack O’Donoghue spoke with pride after leading Munster to a superb 28-14 triumph over South Africa ‘A’.
Thanks to tries from Shane Daly, Simon Zebo, Diarmuid Barron and Mike Haley, Graham Rowntree’s charges impressively overcame a Springboks selection that was stacked with full internationals.
Following previous wins against New Zealand, Australia (on three occasions) and the Maori All Blacks, the Red Army claimed another significant scalp against a touring side. A notable achievement in its own right, this success was made all the more memorable by the fact it was the first-ever rugby match to be played at the spiritual home of Cork GAA.
One of the most experienced figures in this Munster squad, O’Donoghue also paid tribute to the province’s former CEO Garrett Fitzgerald, who sadly passed away in February 2020.
“I spoke to the lads before the game and I just spoke about how privileged we are to be in this position. A lot of lads go through their careers and they never get a chance to play a touring side. To come to Pairc Ui Chaoimh and to make history, it’s incredible. It’s so special,” the Munster captain told Virgin Media Two in the aftermath of the game.
“There’s so many people I think we need to thank. I know the late Garrett Fitzgerald. He had a lot to play in this and I know he’s looking down on us now. All the staff that made this possible. To the fans that came out tonight, on a wet, miserable night, the atmosphere was just incredible. It’s the start of a new block now and hopefully we kick on from it.
“I think from the moment this fixture was announced, tickets were selling straight away and credit to everyone who came out tonight. It was an incredible atmosphere. It goes back to the Aviva against Toulouse last year. I don’t think anything could top this at the moment, but certainly we’ll enjoy tonight. We’ll enjoy the occasion and it will certainly be one to remember.”
Getting a chance to impress in the absence of both Conor Murray and Craig Casey, Paddy Patterson did his future prospects no harm with a player of the match performance at scrum-half. He felt the results of recent weeks weren’t a true reflection of the performances that Munster were producing on the field and was therefore elated to see them being rewarded at the end of a gruelling contest.
“The last few weeks we’ve definitely been building and we haven’t been getting the results with the Leinster and Ulster games. We lost them, but we were playing good rugby. We were doing what we wanted to do, just not getting the results. Today we just wanted to have a crack and we felt the pressure was off a bit. We went out there and we did that,” Patterson remarked.