Kidney: It was all about results and not bonus points
Munster coach Declan Kidney had indicated his team was not targeting a bonus point and it was just as well, because it never looked like materialising.
Kidney’s respect for Llanelli was well founded: “they’re much better than their record in this year’s competition suggests. “I’m just happy that we have taken eight points from two matches against a quality side. It was always about the results, not about the bonus points,” he said.
But it was a deserved win, a point conceded by the Llanelli coach Phil Davies who admitted: “Munster took their chances and that was really the difference.”
For the second week in succession, Munster had to lift their game in the second half when playing against the wind.
All through they dominated Llanelli out of touch, pushed them around a bit in the scrums, but once again it was the ability to hold on to possession through the phases that impressed most.
Jerry Flannery, Donncha O’Callaghan, Denis Leamy, Anthony Foley and David Wallace were in powerful form and the Scarlets could not match them enough to secure a platform for Stephen Jones.
The Welsh international did make a mark with a fine individual first-half try, but he often had to scramble clearances under pressure and rarely got the opportunity to launch counter-offences.
Munster made a lively start with man-of-the-match Rua Tipoki producing a good early steal on Jonathan Davies and they chalked down the first try six minutes into the fray.
O’Gara swung a skip pass out to the left for hooker Jerry Flannery to shrug off the tackles of Nathan Brew and Morgan Stoddart and squirm over in the corner.
Television match official Geoff Warren confirmed the grounding and while the wind forced O’Gara to dropkick the conversion after the ball fell over on his run-up, the Scarlets soon breezed up the other end for a crowd-silencing seven-pointer.
The visitors’ try came from an error of judgement from Mick O’Driscoll. When Jones knocked a penalty off the post, the Munster lock retrieved the ball but passed it behind him to nobody in particular and Lifeimi Mafi had to rescue the situation by touching down behind his posts.
The Scarlets were solid at the resulting scrum and although there were question marks over whether James Bater had blocked O’Gara off the ball, Jones managed to race in behind the posts on an arcing 20-metre burst.
Jones’ successful conversion was cancelled out four minutes later when O’Gara landed his first penalty and two more place kicks from their stand-in captain after 24 and 34 minutes nudged Munster 14-7 clear.
O’Gara restored order with a 15th minute penalty and O’Driscoll atoned for his earlier mistake by snatching a Llanelli throw deep inside Munster territory. Still, the Scarlets continued to look menacing, and it took a timely intervention from Peter Stringer and Brian Carney to thwart a promising attack.
Munster stretched the lead with two further penalties as Llanelli lost Ben Broster (yellow card) for 10 minutes. However, Llanelli managed to frustrate Munster as they gallantly defended with 14 men. Their courage was amply demonstrated when they held out for a six minute spell on their own line at the end of the half.
Munster made a statement of intent early in the second half when they drove Llanelli back 10 metres in a scrum, but after winning a penalty, they lost concentration and possession. Then, when they conceded one, Jones made them pay to bring his side to within four points.
The kickers exchanged third- quarter penalties to leave it 17-13 to Munster, with the former champions now having to play with 14 men after substitute Marcus Horan was yellow carded for punching Deacon Manu off the ball.
It was nail-biting stuff as Munster were forced to defend valiantly in the closing stages.
However, with John Hayes coming up with a crucial steal on Vernon Cooper and Munster finally finding some space out wide, Tipoki, Mafi and Payne combined to put Carney over for the clinching score in the right corner.
Although O’Gara’s conversion attempt was off target, Munster had enough in the tank to see out a vital win.
S. Payne, B. Carney, R. Tipoki, L. Mafi, I. Dowling, R. O’Gara (captain), P. Stringer, F. Pucciariello, J. Flannery, J. Hayes, D. O’Callaghan, M. O’Driscoll, D. Leamy, A. Foley, D. Wallace.
M. Horan for Pucciariello (51), D. Ryan for O’Driscoll (63).
M. Stoddart, M. Jones, R. King, J. Davies, N. Brew, S. Jones, D. Peel, I. Thomas, J. Hayter, B. Broster, V. Cooper, A. Eustace, s. Easterby (captain), A. Popham, J. Bater.
C. Thomas for M. Jones, D. Manu for Broster, G. Thomas for Bater (all 58).
D. Pearson (England).
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