O'Mahony and Carbery lead Munster into Champions Cup quarter-finals
FLYING: Munster's Damian de Allende scores his side's second try during the Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 Second Leg match at Thomond Park.
Munster booked their place in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals with a rousing home win over Exeter Chiefs on Saturday as they overcame a five-point first-leg deficit to complete an 11-point Round of 16 aggregate victory.
Tries from Joey Carbery and Damian de Allende saw off an Exeter challenge that had at one stage extended the visitors’ aggregate lead thanks to a first-half Sam Maunder try.
Carbery was in excellent form with the boot, kicking six from six with four penalties and two conversions while captain and man of the match Peter O’Mahony was immense, leading a superb breakdown performance from Johann van Graan’s side.
This had the potential to be van Graan’s last European fixture in charge if things had not gone well in his final season before handing the reins to forwards coach Graham Rowntree, named his successor last Tuesday. Yet he and Munster live to fight another day and will face a last-eight trip to the winners of Saturday night’s Ulster-Toulouse clash with the northern province taking a 26-20 lead into the return leg in Belfast.
Munster had arrived back in Limerick looking to overturn a five-point deficit having lost the first leg 13-8 at Sandy Park seven days earlier and a fifth-minute penalty from Carbery was the first inroad.
Yet Munster would not take the outright lead until the 25th minute. Exter, displaying all the ruthlessness inside the opposition 22 that had hallmarked their English Premiership and European double-winning season of 2020, struck from close range as scrum-half Sam Maunder tapped a quick penalty from seven metres out and struck for the opening try of the game on 11 minutes. Murray paid the price for his early intervention, copping a yellow card from referee Mathieu Raynal.
If it boded ill for the home crowd, Munster managed the 10-minute sin-binning with aplomb, deliberating at length over set-pieces and even winning the period 3-0 thanks to a Carbery penalty on 16 minutes to take a 6-5 lead.
Exeter were looking dangerous with ball in hand, quick to move to the edges and put the home defence under pressure but Munster defended with all the ferocity that was the positive element of the previous week’s trip to Exeter. Indeed they moved in front on the all-important aggregate scoreline courtesy of a penalty as Harry Williams was tackled by Chris Farrell and Peter O’Mahony clamped over the ball to claim the penalty on 23 minutes. Munster went to the corner, moved the ball inside from the lineout before coming back towards the right touchline, Murray sending a bullet pass out to his fly-half as Carbery beat his man and scored right of the posts, his conversion into a strong wind edging Munster in front, 13-5 on the day and 21-18 on aggregate to the delight of a vociferous 21,000-plus crowd.
Carbery and company were winning new fans in unexpected places, injured Exeter and England wing Jack Nowell picked up by the television cameras as he sat in the stands wearing a Munster jersey but it is doubtful he was cheering when Joe Simmonds missed a penalty on the stroke of half-time, his second missed kick in as many attempts following a failed conversion. That ended the opening period with Munster holding that narrow, three-point overall lead.
Exeter had enjoyed 60 per cent possession in that first 40 but both the penalty count (3-6) and the turnover tally (7-0) favoured the home side as they headed into the second half with the wind at their backs.
Yet it was Exeter that drew first blood after half-time, once again making their presence felt from 10 metres as No.8 Jacques Vermeulen repeated his first-leg score with a 47th-minute try as the Chiefs reclaimed the overall lead, 23-21.
Not for long, Munster’s breakdown work was reaping serious rewards and Carbery pushed his side in back in front as the game went into the final quarter, his penalty opening a 16-10 on the day and his second, from halfway, opening a 27-23 aggregate lead with 15 minutes to go.
The crowd was on edge, Exeter’s physicality immense but van Graan’s team were proving a match for both, turning anxiety into roars of approval with another ruck penalty on 69 minutes, as the irrepressible O’Mahony required treatment for yet another critical intervention on his return from a hamstring injury that had kept him out of the opening leg.
Now it was the Chief’s turn to defend their line as Munster broke out of their half but having spurned try-scoring opportunities in Exeter, they were not about to make the same mistake on home soil. When Mike Haley flung a long pass out to the left wing, recipient Simon Zebo had plenty of work to do but his arcing run down the left touchline was surpassed by an excellent offload inside to support runner Damian de Allende, the South African centre’s dive for the line producing the try that finally put some daylight between the sides at 24-10. The roar from the crowd was as much for Zebo’s talent as de Allende’s nerveless finish and Carbery’s touchline conversion moved Munster into a 34-23 aggregate lead.
O’Mahony left for a standing ovation soon after, van Graan gave his successor Graham Rowntree a knowing pat on the back and the Thomond Park crowd celebrated another remarkable victory that sees Munster into the last eight of Europe for the first time since 2019.
M Haley; K Earls, C Farrell, D de Allende, S Zebo; J Carbery, C Murray (C Casey, 69); J Wycherley (J Loughman, 54), N Scannell (D Barron, 54), J Ryan (S Archer, 54); J Kleyn (T Ahern, 60), F Wycherley; P O’Mahony – captain (J Jenkins, 74), J Hodnett (A Kendellen, 69), J O’Donoghue.
Replacement not used: B Healy.
: S Hogg; O Woodburn(J Hodge, 72), H Slade, I Whitten (T Hendricksen, 74), T O’Flaherty; J Simmonds, S Maunder (J Maunder, 57); A Hepburn (B Keast, 60), J Yeandle – captain (J Innard, 60), H Williams (P Schickerling, 60); J Gray, S Skinner; D Ewers (S Grondona, 74), J Kirsten, J Vermuelen.
Replacement not used: R Capstick.
Mathieu Raynal (France)
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