O’Connell hails hard-fought win but warns against complacency
Munster took control of their Heineken Cup qualifying destiny as they moved to the top of Pool 1 in Wales, continuing their undefeated start to the campaign with a third straight win in the group.
It was also another narrow victory, following on from a 23-21 opening win over Northampton Saints and a 27-24 defeat of Castres in Toulouse. There were no last-gasp drop-goal heroics this time at Parc Y Scarlets but a well-worked first-half try from Niall Ronan, four penalties from Ronan O'Gara on his hundredth Heineken Cup appearance and a dogged defensive display saw off a Scarlets side whose attacking flair was neutralised at source by Munster's breakdown work.
Captain O'Connell, named man of the match for his contribution to the effort was already thinking of next Sunday's return encounter with Scarlets at Thomond Park.
“It's a hell of a win for us and we are absolutely thrilled with it, but we are fully aware it's only half-time," O'Connell said. “From our point of view there is nothing like a loss to focus the mind so I'd imagine next week will be an incredibly tough game.
“It's a great win and we are very proud of it. I thought our pack was excellent. We got a lot of yardage from our scrum and some points from our scrum.
"It's massively important we have got a home game next but it's not like we are running away with any games. Every game is a fight to the death at the moment and every game is a battle.
“There is no danger of us getting ahead of ourselves. We know how close the games are and we will be fully focused against the Scarlets next week.”
Once again in this European campaign, Munster had found themselves on the back foot after a jittery start, going 8-0 down after nine minutes. Rhys Priestland had missed an early penalty after the visitors had quickly turned over ball won at the kick-off but then came a soft try.
Scarlets had staged a smash and grab bonus-point win at Northampton in round two with some clinical counter-attacking and they struck on home soil when Will Chambers put Simon Zabo in trouble with a poor pass on halfway. The ball was lost and flanker Adam Shingler pounced amid the confusion to give Scarlets the opening try.
Priestland missed the conversion but he got on the scoresheet with his third kick of the night as Munster failed to collect an up and under from full-back Denis Hurley and were penalised trying to clear up the mess.
“It was a really hard-fought win,” O'Connell said. “We started really poorly and when you start like that against a team like the Scarlets, with the calibre of player they have, you get punished and that's what happened.
“They scored an early try and a penalty and we were probably lucky they missed two kicks at goal, but we settled down then.”
It was not until the 27th minute that Munster got their own points on the board, O'Gara slotting a penalty won at the scrum and better was to come for the Irish province when Ronan touched down to level the scores after great hands from wing Johne Murphy, O'Gara and Hurley down the right flank. When Ronan got the ball he still had work to do but he jinked inside his man and then out again to slide in at the corner.
It was nip and tuck from there in, an O'Gara penalty edging Munster into an 11-8 half-time lead, Priestland replying soon after the break before O'Gara put the visitors back in front at 14-11 and stretched the lead to six points with another penalty on the 63rd minute.
Scarlets were being frustrated by the Munster forwards slowing their ball down at the breakdown and with a new half-back pairing in Tavis Knoyle and Stephen Jones brought on, pushing Priestland into midfield, the veteran Wales and Lions fly-half also assumed the kicking duties and as the rain fell he narrowed the gap to three points with his first penalty in the 68th minute.
Scarlets went in search of a try and for the next five or six minutes were camped on the Munster 22, only for the Irish side's defences to hold firm in front of their noisy travelling fans in the stand behind their posts.
And when Jones, of all people, knocked on in the slippery conditions with six minutes to go, they was an enormous roar of relief from the Munster end.
Munster won a penalty at the resulting scrum and they spent the dying minutes in the Scarlets half to see out another famous awayday win.
Attendance: 13,183
Scarlets: D Newton (S Jones 58); L Williams (V Iongi 76), S Williams, J Davies, S Lamont; R Priestland, G Davies (T Knoyle 58); I Thomas (P John 63), M Rees [capt] (K Owens 63), R Thomas (D Manu 76), S Timani (K Murphy 63), D Welch, A Shingler (J Edwards 46), R McCusker, B Morgan
Scorers: Try - A Shingler; Penalty - S Jones, R Priestland (2)
Munster: D Hurley; J Murphy, W Chambers (D Barnes 56), L Mafi, S Zebo; R O'Gara, C Murray (T O'Leary 63); W du Preez (M Horan 76), D Varley, B Botha (J Hayes 77), D Ryan (D O'Callaghan 56), P O'Connell [capt], P O'Mahony (D Leamy 41), N Ronan, J Coughlan
Scorers: Try - N Ronan; Penalty - R O'Gara (4)
Match points: Scarlets 1pts, Munster 4pts
Man of the Match: Paul O'Connell (Munster)
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
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