Behind every good fly-half there’s a scrum-half. This truism for the ages applies to the Heineken Cup tale of Munster, where the “other half” has existed in a state of relative anonymity. Ronan O’Gara is the headline act.
Stringer and O’Gara was never an Irish equivalent of Lennon and McCartney. One was always too much the minor to the other’s major. The fly-half loves the swirl of the limelight while his faithful scrum-half contentedly operated a silver-service pass, backed up by heaps of heart and soul in the Munster and Ireland cause.
Peter Stringer has given way to Tomas O’Leary for both teams but the glory goes the same way. The quarter-final dismantling of Northampton was a classic illustration. Spectators left Limerick awed by the