Early try haul carries Munster to vital Ospreys win
GIANT IMPACT: RG Snyman of Munster scores his side's fourth try during the United Rugby Championship match between Ospreys and Munster at the Swansea.com Stadium in Swansea, Wales. Pic: Chris Fairweather, Sportsfile
Three sucker-punch tries in the opening 20 minutes set Munster on their way to another big win in Wales to push themselves further up the URC table as they fight to hold onto their title.
It had been 42-7 in Llanelli against the Scarlets earlier in the year and a fifth successive win over Welsh regional opposition was virtually signed, sealed and delivered in the opening quarter.
The Ospreys had had three weeks to prepare for the game and had lost just once at home in all competitions this season.
It was easy to see why when examining certain parts of their game, but when it came down to the nitty-gritty they simply couldn’t find a way through the watertight Munster defence.
The men in red were murdered at the scrum, found themselves penned in their own half, but made the most of every opportunity they had.
They rode their luck at times but kept coming up smelling of roses.
The game’s first scrum gave the departing Nicky Smith to show the home fans what they will be missing when he heads to Leicester Tigers in the summer by making a driving back the Munster front row. Referee Hollie Davidson felt it was illegal and Joey Carbery kicked into the Ospreys 22.
RG Snyman won the ball, there was a brief drive and four passes later Shane Daly was galloping 20 meters up the left touchline to score in the corner. It was as simple as that in only the third minute, with Carbery adding the extras.
Then it was his wing partner Sean O’Brien who took centre stage with two interceptions. The first came on his 10-metre line when he picked off a pass from Owen Williams intended for Keelan Giles.
Then it became a straight foot race between O’Brien and Giles, which the Munster man just won. There was no conversion this time but Carbery was back on target when O’Brien somehow conjured up a second try.
This time he grabbed a Keiran Williams pass before kicking up the touchline as he was challenged on half-way.
He ran out of the field as he watched the ball bobble up the touchline, got another kick ahead and then beat Justin Tipuric in the race to the ball.
There was one final bit of drama as Williams came rushing on the scene and tried to hack the ball away, only to kick it into O’Brien, who said ‘thank you very much’ and touched down.
If that was miraculous, the astonishing feature of the first half was that Munster managed to keep their line intact for so long. By the time Giles went over in the 34th minute, it was the home side’s first points in their fifth entry into the 22.
By contrast, Munster had plundered 19 points from just four entries. Their fifth came up just short of adding more as Rhys Davies turned over a ruck on his line, but only after Davidson had sent Tipuric to the sin-bin.
Two minutes after Tipuric returned in the second half his side got back into the contest with a driving line-out try from Sam Parry which Williams improved and everyone thought there might be a grandstand finish.
Munster had other plans.
They simply got into the home 22, went through 12 phases and worked the giant Snyman over for the bonus point try four minutes later.
Carbery’s conversion hit the upright, but a few minutes later he was back on target with a 38 metre penalty to stretch the lead to 15 points.
The Ospreys got a third try when former Wales and British & Irish Lions wing Alex Cuthbert powered over.
He could, and would, have scored a second before the end but as he raced unopposed to the left corner, he pulled up lame with a left hamstring injury.
That cost the home side what would have been a score to earn them a try bonus point and a losing bonus point. They had a penalty to come back to, but Williams kicked the ball dead.
If that summed up a frustrating night for the Ospreys, the 20 tackles put in by John Hodnett, and the 15 from Snyman were at the heart of an amazing defence effort from the visitors.
They may have had to make twice as many tackles as their hosts, but their game management was far superior and they were good value for their latest triumph.
Tries: K Giles, S Parry, A Cuthbert; Con: O Williams.
Tries: S O’Brien 2, S Daly, RG Snyman; Cons: J Carbey 2; Pen: J Carbery.
I Hopkins (J Walsh 41); A Cuthbert, E Boshoff (O Watkin 68), K Williams, K Giles; O Williams, R Morgan-Williams (C Jones 78); N Smith (R Henry 32), S Parry (L Lloyd 75), T Botha (G Phillips), J Ratti, R Davies (H Sutton 74), J Rudolph (H Deaves 52), J Tipuric (capt), M Morris.
M Haley; S O’Brien, A Frisch, R Scannell (S McCarthy 75), S Daly; J Carbery (T Butler 72), C Casey (E Coughlan 72); J Wycherley (J Loughman 45), N Scannell (E Clarke 74), J Ryan (S Archer 59), T Ahern, RG Snyman (J O’Donoghue 59), J Hodnett (R Quinn 63), A Kendellen (captain), G Coombes.
Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
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