Disastrous first half ends Munster's Challenge Cup bid at first fence

The game got away from the visitors quickly at a wind-swept Sandy Park.

Jack Crowley of Munster Rugby under pressure from Steve Varney of Exeter Chiefs, on his way to scoring his side's first try. Pic: Paul Phelan/Sportsfile

Exeter Chiefs 31 Munster 21

Elimination from the Champions Cup in the pool stages felt like a low. This wasn't any better.

Munster were always up against it away to an improving Exeter Chiefs side in this Challenge Cup round of 16 tie, but the speed with which the game got away from them in a disastrous first-half made for another disturbing episode in a troubling season.

The score at the break, after Munster had opted to play into the wind, was 31-0. The visitors recovered some of that lost ground and a modicum of pride, but the Chiefs had basically declared their innings after that first 40. A comeback never looked on.

That’s now eight defeats in their last ten games and, with their ‘European’ commitments careering to a close, it leaves them needing a top-eight place in the URC to secure Champions Cup rugby next season.

A corner needs turning soon for that to happen.

Their run-in there is far from easy and the manner of this defeat will only add to the unease at a province struggling financially and on the field of play with the concession of too many soft scores again contributing so much to their downfall.

Munster actually got through the first ten minutes well enough, one long defensive stand in their 22 included, with Alex Nankivell making a great cover tackle and Tadhg Beirne jackling to relieve the pressure not long after.

The next half-hour was car crash stuff.

All four tries were scored far too easily, starting with Ross Vintcent’s opener 15 minutes in when one pass wide to the dangerous Feyi-Waboso opened the Munster cover like a can opener would a tin. One recycle later and the openside flanker was in. Not good.

Henry Slade used the wind to cut a brilliant conversion through the posts and add on the extra points, but his next three conversions would all be tap overs as Exeter ran under or near the posts three times in a row.

Munster did come close to responding to the first try when Gavin Coombes broke through the midfield only for Jack Crowley to be pinged in the 22 for not releasing in the tackle. They kept probing but their attack was laboured and suffocated time and again.

That pressure coughed up two tries for the hosts with Slade and his centre partner Will Riggs intercepting Diarmuid Kilgallen and Ben O’Connor respectively after 21 and 34 minutes to sprint three-quarters the length of the park and touch down.

A Slade penalty in between those two ballooned the score to 24-0 shortly after the half-hour. And worse was to come just on the break when Munster were turned over inside their own half and Feyi-Waboso pounced.

The England wing is a phenomenal player and lightning fast but the ease with which he shrugged off at least four attempted tackles as he wound his way down the line and infield before touching down was symptomatic of Munster’s troubles.

It left them 31-0 down at the break and staring down a familiar barrel given the succession of blows and scores they had suffered in previous games this season against Bath at The Rec and the Sharks in Kings Park.

The visitors were always going to have more opportunity after the break. The wind at their backs dictated that and, sure enough, they had a number of incursions into the Exeter 22 in the ten minutes that followed.

The first two ended with knock-ons from Coombes and Beirne but it was third time lucky on 51 minutes when Crowley nipped over on the short side off a five-metre scrum. His conversion from wide right was bang on as well.

A foothold, finally, if a minor one.

Clayton McMillan’s side needed to follow that up quickly and sow a seed of doubt into Exeter minds. It didn’t happen. Niall Scannell was done for a crooked lineout, another 22 entry was turned over and Ben O’Connor was tackled into touch.

One Paul Brown-Bampoe tackle on Beirne raised the roof.

It took until the 69th minute for Munster to get their second try with Beirne having recovered enough from that hit to go over after a concerted spell on the home line and a succession of penalties. That still left 17 points in it.

Crowley got Munster’s third with a lovely chip and chase inside the 22. Beirne’s day was already done by then after a deliberate knock-on and yellow card and it felt right that Exeter were camped on the Munster line when the last whistle blew.

Exeter Chiefs: O Woodburn; P Brown-Bampoe, H Slade, W Rigg, I Feyi-Waboso; H Skinner, S Varney; S Sio, J Yeandle, J Roots; D Jenkins, A Zambonin; T Hooper, R Vintcent, G Fisilau.

Replacements: C Ridl for Feyi-Waboso and B Tchumbadze for Roots (both 46); J Dweba for Sio and E Burger for Yeandle (both 50); R Tuima for Hooper, F Worley Bray for Vintcent and W Haydon Wood for Rigg (all 74).

Munster: B O’Connor; D Kilgallen, T Farrell, T Abrahams; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, L Barron, J Ryan; E Edogbo, T Beirne; J O’Donoghue, A Kendellen, G Coombes.

Replacements: M Alalatoa for Ryan, N Scannell for Barron and M Milne for Loughman (all 49); R Quinn for Coombes and J Hodnett for Kendellen (both 50); T Aherne for O’Donoghue, S O’Brien for O’Connor and B O’Donovan for Casey (all 70).

Referee: J Rozier (Fra).