Gloucester forward predicts Munster teamtalk and why ‘Miracle Match’ talk won’t effect current crop that is striving for ‘higher standards’
Gloucester forward Arthur Clark looks ahead to Munster clash.
England lock Arthur Clark has warned Munster this generation of Gloucester players are not haunted by the nightmare of the 2003 ‘Miracle Match’.
It is 22 years since the Cherry and Whites went to Limerick needing only to avoid a calamity to reach the Champions Cup knockout stages at the expense of their hosts.
Munster had to score four tries and win by 27 points against a Gloucester team which had put them to the sword at Kingsholm three months earlier.
Nobody with any affiliation to either side has forgotten what unfolded that day at Thomond Park, culminating in John Kelly snatching the fourth Munster try a minute from time and Ronan O’Gara converting for a 33-6 win.
History of the rivalry
Clark was a one-year-old at the time but being of true Gloucester stock – dad Barry played for the club in the 1980s – he did not have to ask about that fateful day, nor wonder what this particular fixture means to both clubs.
Ask him if 80 minutes of rugby played two decades ago is irrelevant to this Saturday’s Pool 2 clash at PĆ”irc UĆ Chaoimh and he treads carefully.
“I wouldn’t use the word irrelevant,” says a player back fit and firing after breaking both feet in separate incidents this year.
“The boys know about that game and know the history of the rivalry. We’ve spoken about the emotional ties to this fixture. I think it’s just a different narrative now, a different team.
“We’re a club that plays a different style of rugby. We still have our heritage and history that we’ll always be proud of, but we’re going to take this club to new places and higher standards.”
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Much will depend on the team Gloucester pick, of course. They have been dogged by injuries all season. “Skiv’s mentioned someone had a voodoo doll and they’ve kept going at it,” Clark says, referring to director of rugby George Skivington. “That’s certainly how it’s felt.”
Max Llewellyn and Will Joseph will not feature on Saturday evening, having been injured in last week’s home win over Castres. The likes of Seb Atkinson and Lewis Ludlow are also unlikely to be involved.
The fact the tie has been moved to Cork and its 45,000-capacity Gaelic games stadium shows how seriously Munster are taking it, as they look to bounce back from last week’s 40-14 beating at Bath.
All the seats have been sold for Munster’s first ever competitive match there and a record crowd for a Investec Champions Cup game in the province is guaranteed.
Still, Clark insists that whoever pulls on the shirt Gloucester will give the two-time champions a run for their money.
“Gloucester has always prided itself on being that club that is the underdog,” explains the 23-year old, who impressed on his England debut against the United States in Washington in July.
“We know they’re wounded after the Bath result. Behind closed doors they’ll be saying, ‘That can’t happen again, especially to an English team. Gloucester can’t come over to Ireland and put one on us. It’s our club, our province, our fans, our stadium’.
“We know this is what they’ll be talking about but write us off as much as you want, we’ll always fight, we’ll always show what we’re about and turn up with grit and determination. It’s in our DNA.
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“Ultimately, when it comes down to it, games are won on that grit and determination. I think that’s why this group is going to go places. We’ve got a good core group that wants it so badly.”
Gloucester avenged defeat in the ‘Miracle Match’ the following season with James Simpson-Daniel adding a try to 17 points from Henry Paul in a 22-11 victory back in the West Country.
Since then, however, Munster have won all six meetings in this tournament. Silencing the crowd, denying Clayton McMillan’s men that support, Clark acknowledges will be vital.
“We’re of course aware of their passionate support and how much effect it has on their game,” he adds. “That’s been one of our key focuses this week: make sure we starve them of as much ball as we can.
“The passion of their province is very much like the passion we feel for rugby in our city. They had 6,000 fans travel to Bath, we have our Shed Heads following us everywhere. That is why this is such a monumental fixture.
Gloucester support
“But support can work two ways. Fans give you so much momentum when they’re cheering but, if they have nothing to cheer about, which is our aim, it can be a different story.”
Two seasons ago Gloucester went to champions La Rochelle in the Round of 16 lying ninth in the Premiership and on the back of three straight defeats. Friendless in the betting shops, they led until the final moments, stunning a packed Stade Marcel-Deflandre.
On another occasion Gloucester turned up at Leinster with a squad rotated so much the home side – according to Gloucester’s former Leinster fly-half Ross Byrne – joked in their team room that they did not know who the players were.
“We don’t mind,” says Clark. “As a squad, as a team, we use it as motivation. Our attitude is, ‘You are going to know our names by the end of the game’.”
Gloucester, on a two-game winning streak after losing their first five outings in the Gallagher Prem, are massive underdogs this weekend. Over to you, Arthur.