Kidney - sheer guts won it

Sarries coach lauds his beaten heroes

Last updated: 28th April 2008

Declan Kidney Munster

Kidney: roll of the dice

We got out of jail today, there is no doubt about that. We probably played as well as Saracens allowed us to, and somehow we managed to claw and scrimp our way to the final.

Declan Kidney
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Munster head coach Declan Kidney admitted Munster "got out of jail" after edging past Saracens 18-16 in the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup.

The win means the 2006 champions are through to a fourth final in nine seasons but it was a close-run thing against a fired-up Sarries.

"We got out of jail today, there is no doubt about that," said Kidney, whose side will face Toulouse in Cardiff in next month's showpiece. "We probably played as well as Saracens allowed us to, and somehow we managed to claw and scrimp our way to the final.

"Saracens were up for it, which we knew they would be. They've beaten the Ospreys and Biarritz in this tournament, and they would have beaten Biarritz in Biarritz during their first pool game except for a last-minute penalty.

"We just stuck in there, really. Things didn't flow for us, and we played an enormous amount of the game in our own half.

"It was one of those games that went with the roll of the dice. Thankfully, it went our way, as sheer guts and work-rate got us through."

Emotions

Saracens director of rugby Alan Gaffney, who used to be in charge of Munster, confessed he struggled to contain his emotions after the game.

"It was a fantastic effort by the players. No-one gave us too much hope, except ourselves, but we knew we had that performance in us," he said.

"I had tears in my eyes in the changing room afterwards and I was struggling to talk.

"It was an emotion that was for the effort of the players. I couldn't have asked for more from them.

"We had a lot of opportunities in the first half, and we allowed Munster some easy outs. You just can't do that - we shot ourselves in the foot.

"It is a game of small margins."