Apocrypha wrote:but then all rugby writers and the entire Irish media favour Munster, right?
Irish Times headline & opening paragraph for one teams 5 point victory against a mediocre team:
Sexton's boot saves Leinster's blushes
Bath 13 Leinster 18: MATCHES ARE defined by opportunities, those taken and those spurned. Leinster just about managed to get the balance right to ensure victory at the Recreation Ground yesterday but came perilously close to toppling ignominiously.
It was difficult to comprehend how they managed to edge so close to the precipice of defeat because on any other day they might have scored four tries, should have crossed for two but ended up with none. This morning’s post-match video analysis and reflection will be excruciating individually and collectively.
Irish Times headline & opening paragraph for another teams 3 point victory against a mediocre team:
Munster relish the battle with usual gusto
Scarlets 14 Munster 17 : IT WAS a performance fired in the forge of traditional Munster virtues, shaped by perspiration and defined by cussedness in adversity. The aesthetics, rugby wise, of the contest won’t matter a jot to a vociferous travelling Munster contingent in a Heineken Cup record crowd for the Parc y Scarlets cathedral of 13,185.
They craved a win and they got it, albeit without quite the same anxiety as previous games in the tournament. It was far from comfortable, just a little less fraught and in some respects a continuation of a theme. Three victories, two away from home, unbeaten and proudly ensconced on top of Pool One; the bald statistics read well.