Mercier leads Munster a merry dance

Gloucester 35 Munster 16

Gloucester hit the ground not so much running as doing cartwheels. They subjected Munster, one of the aristocrats of Europe, to an inquisition to which they had no plausible answer. Gloucester, unbeaten in the Zurich Premiership this season and undefeated at Kingsholm for 13 months, opened Pool Two of the Heineken Cup with an emphatic statement of intent.

If there was anything wrong with this performance it is that four tries were insufficient reward for so much effort. Munster, who have been finalists twice and semi-finalists in the European Championship in three years, were outplayed in the second half to such a degree they barely escaped from their own 22. Bring on Viadana.

The Cherry and Whites have been giving the English clubs a hard time of it here but Munster, so close to lifting the Heineken Cup last season, could not have expected to receive such a grilling in the West Country sunshine.

In the end they were fortunate to get a try with the last move of the match and, when the calculators take over at the end of the Pool stages next year, it maybe significant but I wouldn't bet on it.

Gloucester were so comprehensively in charge it could have been a massacre instead of a mere stuffing. From the word go Gloucester were strung out across Kingsholm like predators waiting for a feeding frenzy. And frenzied it was, with backs and forwards alike throwing out passes of every imaginable description: overhead, between the legs, one-handed flicks. A cool head and more orthodox approach would probably have paid even richer dividends.

As it is Gloucester yanked the pressure to breaking point and in the second half the Munster forwards broke. Gloucester were never seriously threatened, although it took them a long time to build up a true head of steam after Ludovic Mercier had kicked two penalties to one by Ronan O'Gara, Gloucester were convinced it was going to be their day. Mercier, finding himself in midfield with time and space, rifled the ball towards the Munster 22 and the chase was on between Marcel Garvey and his opposite number Mossie Lawlor. Despite a handsome lead, Lawlor was too complacent and Garvey, who is remarkably quick, got his foot to the ball first, hacked it on over the line and calmly touched the ball down, just ahead of the covering Peter Stringer.

Mercier struck an upright with the conversion but it rebounded over the bar and to compound Munster's misery their international centre Rob Henderson went off injured. Munster had a couple of clever moves up their sleeve, Lawlor once taking an inside pass from Stringer to beat the defence, but they were gradually falling under the cosh. O'Gara added two penalties to keep Munster in it at 16-9 but his general play was far less convincing. A misguided up-and-under by the Irish stand-off was caught by Robert Todd and he sparked an attack featuring Phil Vickery Andy Gomarsall. The move would have ended in a try for Henry Paul, but Gomarsall was adjudged, wrongly, to have knocked on.

In the next attack Tom Beim, with the unmarked Adam Eustace outside him, was tackled by Anthony Foley and Munster had another let-off when Mercier, no more than 15 yards from the Munster line and, with a whole stream of players streaming for the ball, elected to go for a drop goal. He missed.

Mercier was at his eccentric best, one minute launching 60-yard touch finders, the next doing something that only a Frenchman would attempt. The current Gloucester vintage have so much strength in depth that they have several options. If they tire of Mercier and his colleagues, the forwards can take matters into their own hands and this they duly did.

One of their favourite ploys is to win a penalty, kick it to the corner, win the line-out through Mark Cornwell and drive the living daylights out of the opposition's forwards. After 59 minutes this is precisely what they did, Jake Boer emerging from the bottom of the pile for the try.

After the hooker, Frank Sheahan, had been shown a yellow card for obstructing Cornwell following a startling break from James Forrester, Gloucester perpetrated the line-out/drive to good effect again and the result was another try for the Boer constrictor.

In between Munster, who replaced the ageing Mick Galwey with the ageing Eddie Halvey, were now so rattled they lost a ball on their own line-out throw. Gomarsall, who for the most part is prepared to act as Jeeves to Mercier, this time elected to go himself and very nearly hoodwinked the Munster defence. Although Gomarsall was held just short, the Gloucester forwards, as they had been doing all afternoon, recycled possession and this time Mercier helped himself to the try. He added the conversion to take his personal total to 20 points.

The European stage has been invaluable for Munster but now they were in danger of meltdown. To their credit, however, they responded at the death with a spirited attack, which, by its rarity value seemed to take Gloucester by complete surprise. The upshot was that Stringer was able to worm his way over at the posts and, although tackled, he managed to plant the ball on the line with a desperate outstretched hand.O'Gara's conversion kept the margin to 19 points.

Gloucester 35 Munster 16

Tries: Garvey, Boer 2, Mercier Tries: Stringer
Cons: Mercier 3 Cons: O'Gara
Pens: Mercier 3 Pens: O'Gara 3

Half-time: 16-9 Attendance: 11,600

Gloucester: H Paul; M Garvey, T Fanolua, R Todd, T Beim (J Simpson-Daniel, 78); L Mercier, A Gomarsall; T Woodman, O Azam (C Fortey, 79), P Vickery (capt), A Eustace (E Pearce, 67), M Cornwell, J Boer, J Forrester, P Buxton.

Munster: J Staunton; J Kelly, M Mullins, R Henderson (J Holland, 35), M Lawlor; R O'Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, M Galwey (E Halvey, 60), M O'Driscoll, J Williams (capt), A Foley, A Quinlan.

Referee: J Dume (France).