Munster fightback earns bonus-point win

Borders 23 Munster 38

Borders’ bid to complete Scotland’s first Celtic League clean-sweep weekend was wrecked by a stunning Munster fightback at Netherdale.

The Scots had looked on course to follow in the footsteps of Glasgow and Edinburgh as they surged to a 16-point half-time lead.

But they suffered a depressing fade-out which allowed the Irishmen to mount a decisive five-try revival.

Having squandered an early chance, stand-off Charlie Hore nudged the Borders in front with a ninth-minute penalty after Ireland lock Donnacha O’Callaghan crept offside.

Then came the double-try strike that stunned the visitors. First, Stephen Cranston celebrated his return from injury by sliding in beside the posts following slick handling work by prop Tom McGee and lock Mark Blair.

The home fans were roaring in delight again less than five minutes later as alert Test winger Simon Danielli pounced for an interception score, dashing 80 metres unchallenged to give Hore his second easy conversion.

Hore confidently banged over another penalty to make the gap 20 points – only to see Paul Devlin break the Munster duck with an opportunist touchdown, goaled by Jason Holland.

Any prospect of a revival before the break was ruled out when the province were rocked by a further double set-back.

International prop John Hayes was yellow carded as Welsh referee Phil Fear finally lost his patience after a string of rucking offences.

And Hore slotted the kick to give Borders more vital breathing space.

Munster looked more hungry after the restart with the Scots being forced to defend sternly to protect their advantage.

The tension of the occasion was underlined when home skipper Bruce Douglas and O’Callaghan were warned following a scuffle.

And within seconds the contest was blown wide open again as hooker Gerry Flannery capitalised on hesitant marking to dive over for Munster’s second try.

The revival continued in the 56th minute when O’Callaghan claimed the scoring touch after being jettisoned over the line by a powerful pack-drive. Holland added the extras to slash the lead to just four points.

And the tide completely turned midway through the half as substitute centre Conan Doyle raced through a midfield gap to give Holland a formality of a conversion.

Even worse was to come for Borders when ex-Lions hero Rob Henderson skipped in for yet another score.

Veteran back-row ace Anthony Foley turned the recovery into a rout by ploughing over from close quarters, Holland taking his conversion tally to four.