We got out of jail, admits coach Foley

Munster head coach Anthony Foley acknowledged his side had got out of jail in edging home against Ulster last night in a 21-20 Guinness Pro12 victory, and said a similar performance next week against Clermont Auvergne would not produce so fortunate an outcome.

Foley saw his side get off to a terrible start, going 12-0 down after 20 minutes, then push ahead and keep Ulster scoreless for the next 50 minutes, only to almost throw the points away at the death after a missed penalty from Ian Keatley and yellow card for prop Stephen Archer.

“The first 20 was all them and we were giving away penalties that we knew the referee was going to be hot on. That was very frustrating in itself,” Foley said. “Then we executed a nice little play and managed to get momentum into the game and from there we took it, right up into the 60th minute.

“We were nine points up in perfect control of the game and opt to go for the posts instead of going to the corner and keeping the pressure on Ulster. It hits the post and they go down the other end. We get a man put in the sin bin and then they get three points and suddenly we’re hanging on for dear life at the end.

“And it was down to a missed conversion we won the game. That isn’t the ideal way of winning but you take it and run away, and you have a little smile on your face. But you understand some of the stuff we did out there was good but there was stuff out there, if we go to Clermont with that, we’ll get it handed back to us.”