Munster’s special reserve

MUNSTER’S shadow side came good in a superb Magners League contest against luckless Connacht at the Sportsground last night, extracting an 18-12 victory that now places massive emphasis on next Saturday’s clash with the Ospreys at Thomond Park.

While Leinster remain unchallenged at the top, the Ospreys and Munster are locked together in second place on 43 points, with the Welsh side enjoying an eight-point scoring advantage.

To claim the spoils from a traditionally difficult fixture with a side containing only three of those who had figured in the Heineken Cup win over Northampton was especially satisfying for Munster coach Tony McGahan. His decision to rest so many front line players because of the demanding schedule that lies ahead was entirely justified. Youngsters like Simon Zebo and Danny Barnes on the wings, Scott Deasy at full-back and forwards Billy Holland and Dave Ryan came through with flying colours while more seasoned campaigners like the polished Paul Warwick, Peter Stringer, Mick O’Driscoll and the outstanding back-row of Nick Williams, Niall Ronan and James Coughlan made massive contributions.

“It was a tremendous show of depth and displayed the tremendous fighting qualities of Munster rugby,” said McGahan. “It certainly made for our best away performance this season. We’ve come up short on a number of occasions but we played for the full 80 minutes, showed great discipline and again our defence and our breakdown post tackle was excellent.”

However, for his Connacht counterpart Michael Bradley it was a bitterly disappointing outcome even if the losing bonus point has pushed them within four points of Ulster in the battle for the third and final Heineken Cup place. He shook his head when asked how many of his fledgling 28 strong squad would be fully fit for Wednesday’s visit of Leinster to the Sportsground and one can only hope that their season won’t now unravel with this reverse coming on the heels of a series of excellent performances in recent weeks.

“Guys were trying to pull rabbits out of hats at times and that’s not our normal game,” Muldoon admitted.

“The number of unforced errors was far too many. We made it very tough for ourselves as we threw wild passes and knocked on ball and turned it over.”

The first half was notable for some fine rugby and a couple of tries of the highest quality. Warwick had put Munster ahead with two well struck penalties when Ian Keatley launched a counter attack from his own 22 in the 12th minute which was carried on by Fionn Carr and Michael Swift before Cronin made the crucial incision that enabled Ta’Auso to send O’Connor over and Keatley converted.

Such a cracking try certainly raised the decibel level as the 4,500 home fans sniffed another notable scalp for their gallant warriors. But Munster’s response on the half hour was even more impressive. Big Nick Williams snaffled possession on his own 22m line and was supported by another giant, Tony Buckley, who thundered deep into Connacht territory before Stringer and the flying Warwick combined to send Niall Ronan racing over in the corner. This time, Warwick couldn’t convert and Munster’s four point lead turning to play into the wind looked tenuous in the extreme.

However, when Warwick, Williams and Simon Zebo produced an exhilarating piece of play up the left wing and Scott Deasy rounded off the move with another beautiful try that Warwick converted from far out, it looked as if Munster had regained control. Connacht, though, remained full of fight and worked their way out of defence for the formidable number eight George Naoupu to reach for the game’s fourth try and make it 18-12 with twenty minutes still to play.

With Zebo in the bin, Connacht had every chance and to their credit they gave it their all with replacement with Danny Barnes forced to make a crucial, game saving tackle on Connacht replacement scrum-half Conor O’Loughlin as he made a desperate dart for the left hand corner in the dying seconds. It was that close.

CONNACHT: G Duffy; T Nathan, N Ta’auso, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan; M Swift, B Upton; J Muldoon (capt), J O’Connor, G Naoupu.

Replacements: M Nikora for Keatley (47); R Loughney for Wilkinson (47); M McCarthy for Swift (48); Wilkinson for O’Hagan (55); A Flavin for Cronin (62); M McComish for Muldoon (70); C O’Loughlin for Murphy (70); A Wynne for Ta’Auso (71).

MUNSTER: S Deasy; S Zebo, T Gleeson, P Warwick, D Barnes; D Cusack, P Stringer; D Ryan, D Varley, T Buckley; M O’Driscoll (capt), B Holland, N Williams, N Ronan, J Coughlan.

Replacements: D Foley for Williams (52); D Fogarty for Varley (61); J Brugnaut for Buckley (64); P O’Mahoney for Holland (66); J Manning for Cusack (73).

Referee: A Rolland (IRFU).