De Villiers delivers for Munster
Munster 27 Glasgow 19
A MAGNIFICENT 73rd-minute try by Jean de Villiers, converted from the touch-line by Ronan O’Gara, clinched four precious Magners League points for Munster at Thomond Park last night and in the process prevented Glasgow Warriors from taking anything from a fiercely fought contest.
The result means Munster moved up to second in the table, and after this much-improved performance they will go into next Friday’s clash with leaders Leinster and the following week’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Northampton Saints with renewed confidence.
There were a number of empty seats in the stadium, but the approximate 16,000 who turned up got excellent value for money and enjoyed the manner in which their side improved appreciably on recent performances against opposition that contained half of last week’s successful Scottish side at Croke Park.
Ronan O’Gara put over six goal kicks out of eight, two from the edge of touch, and De Villiers was voted man of the match after a fine performance which he crowned with the decisive try.
Munster were clearly the better team throughout and camped for long periods deep in Glasgow territory. Time and again, though, the final pass went astray but the team, even though they were deprived of five key players after their stint with Ireland, were inventive and creative. However, there were familiar troubles at scrum time, the cause not helped by the late withdrawal of Tony Buckley, but as ample consolation Dave Ryan certainly made his presence felt when he came in for the final 10 minutes or so.
“It’s always important to beat teams ahead of you in the table and to prevent them from taking anything,” said a delighted Munster coach Tony McGahan.
“There is real congestion at the top and it could well come down to a point or two where the play-offs are concerned. We are very pleased both with the result and the fact that a number of guys put their hands up and it’s going to make for a few difficult selection decisions over the next few weeks.”
Munster should have been kicking themselves at going in at half-time leading by a single point, having dominated the play territorially for almost the entire 40 minutes.
As McGahan commented: “We need to put teams to the sword and we didn’t do that tonight.”
They might well have had a couple of tries in the opening two minutes and little more time had elapsed when O’Gara was left and wide with a 30-metre penalty. The pressure did tell in the 14th minute when Lifeimi Mafi off-loaded out of the tackle to Ian Dowling, who lofted a pass for Denis Hurley to dive over in the corner.
O’Gara’s superbly struck conversion from the right hand touch-line hit a post but he did stretch his team’s lead with a penalty only for Dan Parks to immediately reply with a 40 metre kick. It looked like the pendulum had again swung Munster’s way when Glasgow centre Graeme Morrison was yellow carded for a cynical trip on Ian Dowling as he chased a Paul Warwick kick but instead it was the Scots who pounced for the next score.
On the half hour, an O’Gara pass was intercepted by Glasgow captain and wing-forward John Barclay on his own 22-mete line and surprisingly, he was able to defy the best efforts of the home backs to retrieve the situation. Parks tapped over the conversion and Munster found themselves 10-8 in arrears. O’Gara landed his second penalty before the interval but the 11-10 score-line in no way reflected the trend of the game up to that point.
Welsh referee James Jones certainly left his mark on the second half proceedings. Not only did he consistently delay the put-in to the scrums while he lectured the respective front-rows but he also saw fit to yellow card Glasgow sub Kevin Tkatchuk and Munster flanker Niall Ronan. It all meant that the game all too often degenerated into the stop-start category with the place kickers offered several opportunities to display their expertise.
Parks and O’Gara each found the target on three occasions in the opening 30 minutes before De Villiers brought the crowd to its feet in the 73rd minute when he powered his way over in the corner after a series of attacks. O’Gara landed his sixth goal of the night with a majestic conversion from the edge of touch, and Munster were camped once again on the Glasgow line when the final whistle sounded.
MUNSTER: P Warwick; D Hurley, L Mafi, J de Villiers, I Dowling; R O’Gara capt, P Stringer; M Horan, D Fogarty, J Brugnaut; D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll; A Quinlan, N Ronan, J Coughlan.
Replacements: D Howlett for Hurley injured, 33; N Williams for Quinlan 57; D Varley for Fogarty 59; D Ryan for Brugnaut 61; B Holland for O’Callaghan 75; D Williams for Stringer 76.
GLASGOW WARRIORS: B Stortoni; M Evans, P Murchie, G Morrison, DTH van der Merwe; D Parks, C Cusiter; J Welsh, D Hall, M Law, R Gray, D Turner, K Brown, J Barclay capt, J Beattie.
Replacements: H O’Hare for Van Der Merwe and R Vernon for Beattie, half time; F Thomson for Hall 52; K Tkatchuk for Welsh 53; T Barker for Graham 59; C Gregor for Cusiter 61.
Referee: James Jones (Wales)