Slick Connacht keep hopes alive, deepen weakened Munster gloom
ON FIRE: Connacht players celebrate during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Munster at Dexcom Stadium in Galway. Photo by Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile
Connacht ensured they keep their URC play-off hopes alive into the final round of the regular season after an emphatic bonus-point derby victory over a sorry Munster at Dexcom Stadium on Saturday night.
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Munster’s bid for a third victory in a row came to a crashing halt in Galway as hooker Diarmuid Barron had his yellow card on 17 minutes upgraded to a 20-minute red card and Stuart Lancaster’s side made hay. They had already taken a 7-0 lead through Ben Murphy when Munster were reduced to 14 men, but two further tries against their short-handed and injury-hit neighbours dealt a hammer blow to any hopes of a road victory for the men in road.
Shayne Bolton and Shamus Hurley-Langton scored before Munster were returned to their full complement and took a 19-0 half-time lead with Sam Gilbert adding two conversion. A Craig Casey try on 66 minutes, converted by JJ Hanrahan was all Munster had to show for their efforts with Connacht adding their fourth soon after through man of the match Sean Jansen.
The win keeps Connacht in touch with the top eight, and though they still stay in ninth place after the 17th round they lie just a point behind Ulster in the final play-off berth with one game of the regular season to play. Munster, after back-to-back bonus-point wins, left Galway with no league points but remain in sixth, the position they held at kick-off, but the table remains congested. Clayton McMillan’s men have 51 points, just two more than Connacht, though they are also just three points behind Bulls, who occupy fourth, the last position in the standings guaranteed a home quarter-final draw at the end of the month. Munster play the fifth-placed Lions in Limerick next Saturday while Connacht travel to 12th placed Edinburgh on the final weekend.
Munster had started the evening seven points clear of ninth-placed Connacht but had travelled up the road to Galway missing a half-dozen key players, including their two linchpins, captain Tadhg Beirne and fly-half Jack Crowley. And they were dealt a further blow during ahead of departure with Shane Daley failing to make the team bus having felt soreness in a calf muscle. Daley had been switched from full-back last time out to the right wing to cover for hamstring injury victim Calvin Nash and he in turn was replaced by Thaakir Abrahams, making six changes from the side which had dispatched an understrength Ulster side 41-14 a fortnight earlier.
The drop in quality was evident from the kick-off, Connacht, sensing blood and desperate to keep their play-off hopes alive, started with far more positivity. They quickly found holes in the visitor’s defences, captain and flanker Cian Prendergast leading from the front with a string of hard carries and his team-mates following suit, Munster twice repelling attacks thanks to holding the ball up over the tryline. Yet the dam had to burst eventually and Connacht forced Munster into three successive penalties concessions and then the opening try, scrum-half Ben Murphy sniping down the side of a ruck to score with full-back Sam Gilbert adding the conversion on 12 minutes.
It got worse for Munster five minutes later when hooker Diarmuid Barron’s croc roll on opposite number Dylan Tierney-Martin was spotted by TMO Mark Patton. Referee Peter Martin brandished a yellow card and sent the incident for a red card review which did not end favourably for the Munster hooker and his side were forced to defend short-handed for 20 minutes.
They conceded a second try in the 20th minute, a direct result of having an absent hooker, as stand-in lineout thrower John Hodnett’s put in was stolen and Connacht countered with left wing Shayne Bolton exploiting widening gaps to waltz over the tryline.
Munster were in disarray, compounding error upon error, an encouraging period of phase play undone by a knock-on on the edge of the Connacht 22, Casey kicking a quick penalty upfield but sending the ball out on the full. And they were losing the physical battle upfront, losing the gainline with alarming regularity.
A third home try seemed inevitable and it came on 34 minutes, with Munster still a man down from the 20-minute red, as Shamus Hurley-Langton touched down with Gilbert’s conversion making it 21-0.
Alex Kendellen’s introduction on 37 minutes at least restored the contest to 15 v 15 but Munster still contrived to inflict self-harm. When wing Andrew Smith popped up on the right with Abrahams on his shoulder, a pass would have sent the South African in for an almost certain try but instead the ball was kicked ahead straight into Connacht hands and the threat was extinguished, much to the delight of a feisty home crowd of 12,481 at a sold-out Dexcom Stadium.
With a 19-0 half-time lead Connacht’s season was very much alive and they were also riding their luck, Munster denied a try due to a knock-on spotted by the TMO soon after the second half got away as Kendellen stole over from a five-metre tap.
For all their mis-steps, Munster finally got on the scoreboard with 14 minutes remaining, Casey completing a period of sustained goal line pressure with a smart finish, JJ Hanrahan converting. Yet even that satisfaction among the travelling support was quickly snuffed out as Connacht wrapped up their try bonus point in the 71st minute, No.8 Sean Jansen completing an impressive night for the home back row with the fourth of the night, and Gilbert converting to re-establish their 19-point advantage. It was the least their performance deserved.
S Gilbert; S Jennings, H West (S Naughton, 53), B Aki, S Bolton; J Ioane (J Carty, 66), B Murphy (M Devine, 66); B Bohan (P Dooley, 48), D Tierney-Martin (E de Buitléar, 21), S Illo (F Bealham, 49); D Murray, J Murphy (J Joyce, 54); C Prendergast – captain, S Hurley-Langton (P Boyle, 61), S Jansen.
M Haley; T Abrahams (S O’Brien, 53), A Nankivell, D Kelly, A Smith; JJ Hanrahan, C Casey – captain (B O’Donovan, 72); J Loughman (J Wycherley, 53), D Barron (A Kendellen, Red Card replacement, 37), M Ala’alatoa (C Bartley, 66); E Edogbo (J O’Donoghue, h-t), F Wycherley; T Ahern, J Hodnett (L Barron, 25), G Coombes (B Gleeson, 47).
Referee: Peter Martin (IRFU)
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