Munster dig deep to ride the storm

Connacht 8 Munster 14

Having looked hopelessly off the pace in the opening half, Munster were a completely different team on the restart. Even though they conceded an extremely dubious try and missed what appeared to be a sitter of a penalty, they worked their way through the second 40 minutes with the kind of tactical know-how and self-belief for which they are becoming increasingly renowned.

Eventually they prevailed with relative ease by 14-8 and so have moved six points clear of Connacht in the battle for the third and final Heineken Cup qualifying spot for next season.

Coach Declan Kidney put his head on the block by making nine changes from the side that beat Leinster in midweek and not surprisingly, what was in many ways a patchwork combination never really settled down. Yet Kidney insisted he had no regrets and suggested that the manner in which the Connacht effort sagged appreciably the more the game went on was due to the pressure they were put under to keep their first half arrears down to just three points.

As against that, to lead by as little as 6-3 at the interval having played with a gale — and with John O’Sullivan in the bin — was anything but a good scenario for Munster. To then concede a try and have O’Gara yellow carded for protesting too vocally made matters a whole lot worse, but it was then that the greatness in this side manifested itself.

O’Connell who led from the front as always produced a few trademark open field bursts, Hayes was prominent in the loose and a powerhouse in the tight, while O’Gara was as smart and composed as ever.

However, this was by no means a four-man effort and there were several other outstanding individual performances, most especially by Tomas O’Leary, a scrum-half by nature, but on this occasion a right winger of consummate class and industry. Christian Cullen also prospered in conditions that were very close to unplayable, while for sheer doggedness there were few to touch Frankie Sheahan.

The first half was all about containment as far as Connacht were concerned and they started splendidly — helped considerably by Munster indiscipline. The first three penalties all went their way and Munster were struggling to find a pattern. However, you couldn’t but admire Connacht’s approach.

It came as little surprise on 22 minutes when Mark McHugh kicked them into a deserved three-point lead.

Munster were back on terms almost from the kick-off through a Manning penalty, but as the half dragged on there was no sign of the European champions threatening the home line.

The loss through injury of key forwards David Fanning and John Muldoon didn’t seem to bother Connacht, who were unfortunate to fall behind on 33 minutes. O’Leary did very well to hold a high pass from Manning before launching a towering Garryowen into the opposing 22 which put the defence in a tangle and led directly to a penalty for the out-half.

Even then there was nothing reassuring about the Munster performance. They did well to thwart a concerted series of pick and charge attacks on their line as half-time, but there was still time for the Connacht juggernaut to roll within inches of the target where they were stopped only by the illegal intervention of flanker John O’Sullivan, who was duly dispatched to the sin bin.

Connacht had good reason to feel hard done by when turning over three points in arrears — they had spent a lot more of the opening 40 minutes in the Munster half of the field and had had more try scoring opportunities. On the other hand, they would have seriously fancied their chances when turning around to play with the elements against fourteen men for the opening ten minutes of the second half.

The urgency of Munster’s situation was acknowledged by the appearance from the restart of the four heavy gunners, but their plight was compounded within five minutes when back-row forward Ray Ofisa was judged to have got the touchdown following a line-out throw described by the Munster hooker as “three to four yards crooked”. O’Connell and O’Gara protested vehemently — the out-half apparently too much so, and he joined O’Sullivan in the bin. McHugh missed the easy conversion.

However, after a series of close range scrums Stringer used the blind side and passed to Christian Cullen, who sent O’Leary over in the corner.

O’Leary and then O’Connell went close, and incredibly, an O’Gara penalty shot from literally under the posts on 68 minutes was blown wide, but he made no mistake with a similar opportunity ten minutes later. When O’Leary was stopped in the nick of time by desperate defence it was all a much-quietened Connacht side had to offer.

CONNACHT: D. Riordan; D. Yapp, P. Warwick, G. Williams, K. Matthews; M. McHugh, C. Keane; B. Wilkinson, J. Fogarty capt, S. Knoop, D. Gannon, A. Farley, J. Muldoon, R. Ofisa, C. Rigney.

Replacements: M. Swift for Gannon, injured, 14 mins; M. Lacey for Muldoon, injured, 29; J. Hearty for Matthews 70.

MUNSTER: C. Cullen; T. O’Leary, B. Murphy, L. Mafi, S. Payne; J. Manning, P. Stringer capt; D. Hurley, F. Sheahan, F. Pucciarello, D. O’Callaghan, C. Wyatt, J. O’Sullivan, D. Wallace, J. Coughlan.

Replacements: R. O’Gara for Manning; T. Halstead for Murphy; J. Hayes for Hurley; P. O’Connell for Wyatt — all ht.

Referee: D. Keane (IRFU).