"It was a good start and that got the crowd behind us. There’s nothing like a bit of the old fashioned style of getting the dig in first and it got us off to the right start."
In the summer of last year, I spoke with Gordon Hamilton, Nick Popplewell and Michael Lynagh about Ireland and Australia's famous World Cup quarter final from 1991.
There was a chasm of talent between the two sides at the time, and Australia were expected to cruise past the Irish and on to the semi-final against New Zealand.
Straight from the kick-off, Phillip Matthews took out the Aussie hardman Willie Ofahengaue, and it was one-in all-in from there.
Watching the Irish provinces, and in particular Munster over the last few weeks, I couldn't help but think about those quotes.
The game has obviously changed, and with the way cards, citings and suspensions are handed out in the modern game, a first minute punch-up is the last thing any professional side should be doing in a big European or Pro12 tie.
However, in so many games in the last couple of months, a harmless dose of handbags or a shoving match has felt like the ideal medicine.
A long-term fix it is not, but the lack of nastiness has been obvious in Munster's dismal run.
When CJ Stander was eye-gouged in the defeat to Sade Francais on Saturday, only Jack O'Donoghue made a move towards the altercation, but the drama had passed by the time the flanker even reached his captain.
The lack of niggle has been a recurring theme throughout Munster's run of six defeats in seven.
When the Irish provinces were dominating Europe, there was a genuine nastiness prevalent in their derby games, and when both Munster and Leinster were struggling with form entering the Christmas period, I fully expected their meeting at Thomond Park to have an added intensity, with two struggling sides taking their frustrations out on each other.
I expected Garry Ringrose and Rory Scannell to be targeted early.
I expected Jamie Heaslip and CJ Stander to slog it out.
I expected Ian Madigan to take some pressure in his first game since announcing his move to Bordeaux.
I expected intensity, frustration, anger, disappointment, niggle and tension to boil over at some point, and for a therapeutic scrap to happen at some point in the 80 minutes.
In the end Leinster strolled to a 24-7 win. The frustration for Munster only grew, but it wasn't taken out on anybody.
Against Ulster the following weekend, the intensity was there in defence, but by Saturday in Paris it was gone, with players tackling with their hands and hiding from responsibility.
The lack of leaders in the group is obvious. Donnacha Ryan and Peter O'Mahony's physical and confrontational presence has been badly missed lately, and in their absence few have stepped up to the role.
Felix Jones had been a leader in the 12 months before his untimely retirement, and his loss has been telling in the past few months.
The group that now need to be standing up are a local bunch; the likes of Conor Murray, Keith Earls, Simon Zebo, Mike Sherry and Dave Kilcoyne haven't taken on the responsibility to be enforcers, with stand-in captain CJ Stander looking like the only player leaving everything he has on the pitch.
While the province's problems boil down to a hell of a lot more than a lack of shoving matches, a tactical bit of handbags has always had the potential to raise the intensity.
There doesn't have to be a punch thrown or anything malicious in it, but putting down a physical marker and getting in the opposition's face was something the golden generation of Irish rugby players could do better than anyone.
In a home game, it gets the crowd going just as much as a penalty kicked between the posts, and away from home, it lets the opposition know that they've a long 80 minutes ahead of them.
But what we've grown used to in the last few months is a group that's become too nice to their opponents, choosing to turn to the referee in tough times, rather than looking to settle it themselves.
If it's planned properly, it doesn’t have to be costly. If there's a penalty conceded in the opposition half, a bit of agro can cost little more than 10 extra metres. The potential gain far outweighs the cost.
An early dust-up this weekend against Stade Francais won’t rescue the season or right the wrongs, and in the grand scheme of problems in Irish provincial rugby, it won’t even begin to scratch at the surface.
But it might just give the fans a reason to make Thomond Park sound like it used to.
