URC: Glasgow Warriors 28 Munster 25
Munster’s night that held promise for so long ended in tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, as the appositely named Nathan McBeth’s try five minutes from the final whistle signalled a Glasgow comeback that earned the Scottish side a bonus-point victory.
The Irish province can be proud of their display for large swathes of the game, one that was light years better than their previous defeat to Edinburgh. A little more composure and discipline might have seen them earn more than the one point they will take home.
Gavin Coombes had a brilliant game. Diarmuid Barron and Tom Ahern were standouts in an excellent collective effort from the pack, Paddy Patterson was sharp and incisive, while Seán O’Brien finished superbly for his two tries. Tony Butler brought composure and some nice touches to his work, while Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell and Andrew Smith had some good moments.
Munster settled into their shape and flow impressively from the opening whistle Alex Nankivell and Ben O’Connor prominent in their first attack of note that withered on a forward pass eight metres from the Glasgow line. It was a decent augury.
The visitors were bright in their work, the timing of the pass and the running lines enabled Munster to breach the gain-line, but Glasgow were resolute and scrambled well. A moment of madness from Fineen Wycherley in which he needlessly lifted Alex Samuel past the horizontal in a clear-out, culminated in a deserved yellow card.
From the unlikeliest of situations Munster took the lead, initially turning over the ball just shy of their 22, and from there, Tom Farrell, Seán O’Brien and Andrew Smith swept downfield. Outhalf Tony Butler showed composure and a lovely touch with a cross-kick to O’Connor. The Munster fullback passed inside to John Hodnett who crossed unopposed.
Butler tagged on the conversion just before Fineen Wycherley returned from the sin bin. Munster continued to play lovely rugby and went further ahead after good work initially from Gavin Coombes and Alex Kendellen. On penalty advantage, Sean O’Brien demonstrated strength and poise to finish despite the presence of three tacklers.
At 12-0, the visitors were worth every point. Glasgow in contrast, were ill-disciplined and careless and the little bit of ball they did they, was wasted; that is until the 27th minute when the leading try scorers in the URC cut loose with a brilliant try from George Horne, on the back of a midfield line-break and two gorgeous offloads.
Munster were handed the chance to add three points when referee Morne Ferreira awarded them a contentious penalty. The 22-year-old Butler struck his kick sweetly to push the visitors out to a 15-7 lead, but Glasgow responded with another cracking backline move.
Kyle Steyn appeared from the blindside wing into midfield from a set-piece play accelerated through a gap and then outpaced the cover to touchdown, Hastings again converted. Munster though had played into the wind, and would have been reasonably happy, dominating large swatches of the half, but a smidgen disappointed in the manner in which they conceded the two tries.
Glasgow coach Franco Smith turned to his bench, replacing five players, four of the pack in the first eight minutes of the second half, a reaction in part to the fitful nature of his team’s performance in the first half.
The breakdown was a mess – the scrum not far behind – and referee Ferreira’s interpretation was puzzling at times but Munster, to their credit, had presented the better pictures as far as the official was concerned.
Butler kicked a second penalty on 55 minutes to nudge the Irish province out to an 18-14 lead, one underpinned by some excellent turnovers facilitated by the outstanding Coombes, and an increasingly prominent Tom Ahern and hooker and captain, Diarmuid Barron, twice.
Glasgow’s inability to kick three penalties in succession to touch denied them opportunities to attack. It was beyond poor. Munster made them pay. When Farrell looped an inside pass to O’Brien, the Munster wing had plenty to do but he swatted aside four tacklers en route to the line, and a second try. Rory Scannell added the conversion.
It was if Glasgow needed to be poked to produce their best as the home side responded with a third try, Sebastian Cancelliere the catalyst, Matt Fagerson the scorer.
Hastings’ conversion reduced the deficit to a four-point game at 25-21 and galvanised by that momentum and a couple of Munster mistakes, the home side crossed for a fourth and bonus-point try, which gave them the lead from McBeth, Hastings’ conversion applied the gloss.
Scoring sequence 17 mins: Hodnett try, Butler conversion, 0-7; 22: O’Brien try, 0-12; 27: Horne try, Hastings conversion, 7-12; 32: Butler penalty, 7-15; 35: Steyn try, Hastings conversion, 14-15. Half-time: 14-15. 55: Butler penalty, 14-18; 65: O’Brien try, Scannell conversion, 14-25; 68: Fagerson try, Hastings conversion, 21-25; 75: McBeth try, Hastings conversion, 28-25.
Glasgow Warriors: K Rowe; S Cancelliere, O Smith, S McDowall, K Steyn (capt); A Hastings, G Horne; J Bhatti, J Matthews, P Schickerling; J Oguntibeju, A Samuel; E Ferrie, S Vailanu, J Mann. Replacements: D Weir for Smith half-time; G Brown for Oguntibeju half-time; M Fagerson for Vailanu half-time; N McBeth for Bhatti 48 mins; S Talakai for Schickerling 48 mins; JP du Preez for Samuel 63 mins; B Afshar for Steyn (HIA) 63-73 mins; Steyn for Horne 73 mins.
Munster: B O’Connor; S O’Brien, T Farrell, A Nankivell, A Smith; T Butler, P Patterson; J Loughman, D Barron (capt), S Archer; F Wycherley, T Ahern; A Kendellen, J Hodnett, G Coombes. Replacements: J Wycherley for Loughman 53 mins; E Coughlan for Patterson 53 mins; R Quinn for Hodnett 61 mins; R Scannell for Butler 63 mins; J Ryan for Archer 67 mins; B Gleeson for Kendellen 67 mins.
Yellow card: F Wycherley (Munster) 9 mins.
Referee: M Ferreira (South Africa).
