Glasgow Warriors 31

Munster 22

MUNSTER FELL to a fourth URC defeat in their last five games when they came up short against the league leaders in Scotstoun.

Both sides were without their internationals — Glasgow down 15 players to eight for Munster — but Franco Smith’s charges bossed matters for most of the contest, and in the end Munster had to be content with a try bonus point.

Munster were forced into a late change, with Mark Donnelly coming in for the injured loosehead Josh Wycherley, which resulted in John Ryan moving to No.17 on the bench and Michael Ala’alatoa coming in as tighthead cover.

Ala’alatoa had to be drafted after just 17 minutes as Oli Jager, making his first start since October, suffered another injury blow and limped off.

Glasgow, playing with the strong wind, had just 26% possession in the opening nine minutes and yet, remarkably, built a 14-0 lead as Munster endured a nightmare spell after dominating the opening five minutes.

It looked like Munster had crowned that bright start with a try, but No.8 Brian Gleeson had his effort off a lineout scratched for a double movement, and the league leaders hit them with a double whammy.

Glasgow’s superb handling saw them go from deep as Munster scrambled and Ollie Smith got the try on review in the left corner when he somehow managed to get the touchdown and keep his feet airborne after being bundled into touch by Diarmuid Kilgallen.

Dan Lancaster landed the difficult conversion on his second attempt after Munster’s Thaakir Abrahams was pinged for advancing early.

It got worse for Munster on the restart when Lancaster, son of Connacht coach Stuart, picked off Tony Butler’s pass to Dan Kelly to run and score under the posts to lead 14-0 after nine minutes.

Glasgow then gifted Munster a try when scrum-half Ethan Coughlan intercepted Stafford McDowell’s pass to full-back Josh McKay, and he had the pace to score down the right after 11 minutes.

Munster defended well after that with Diarmuid Barron, Evan O’Connell and Gleeson winning some great turnover ball, but Glasgow were patient in their build-up and with multiple penalty advantages, the pressure eventually told, and impressive academy graduate Olujare Oguntibeju got in for their third converted try.

Munster finished the half poorly. Butler failed to find touch with a penalty into the wind down the right, and Glasgow immediately countered from deep and stretched the Munster cover. Abrahams was then binned for a deliberate knock-on as he tried to intercept a pass down his wing.

Glasgow went to the left corner and got in for the bonus point try with Lancaster picking out McKay with another excellent long pass, and the conversion pushed them 28-5 in front at the break.

It took some frantic defending on the line by Diarmuid Barron and Dan Kelly to deny Angus Fraser a try three minutes after the restart, while a try from academy hooker Seb Stephen after another flowing move down the left was called back after a knock-on by scrum-half Ben Afshar was spotted by television match official Adam Jones.

Munster responded with four replacements in the 46th minute, including a debut for 19-year-old Tom Wood at outhalf, but Gavin Coombes, who rescued them with two tries after coming on last weekend against the Dragons, lasted just nine minutes after suffering a head injury when he went in to tackle.

Munster got back into the game when Kelly broke from deep and fended Smith before escaping down the right and pulling away to score in the corner after 51 minutes.

10 minutes later Munster closed the gap further when Glasgow bungled a lineout outside the 22 with Gleeson pouncing when Ewan Ferrie spilt the ball and cut the gap to 28-15 going into the final quarter.

Wood was again off target on the near side with the conversion, but he impressed in open play, neatly feeding a Kelly pass to Abrahams, who put Kilgallen in for the bonus point try. Wood landed the conversion from the left to set up an exciting finish with the margin down to 28-22.

But that was as close as Munster got. Wood kicked dead with a penalty from the middle of the field just when they were building momentum to try to snatch the game, and Glasgow worked the clock thereafter with their superior scrum proving decisive.

It was no surprise when Glasgow opted for the posts with a penalty six minutes from time when Lancaster made the game safe as he took his haul to 16 points as the leaders marched on, and Munster are left with another post-mortem.

Scorers: Glasgow Warriors: Tries: O Smith, D Lancaster, O Oguntibeju, J McKay. Cons: Lancaster (4 from 4). Pen: Lancaster (1 from 1).

Munster: Tries: E Coughlan, D Kelly, B Gleeson, D Kilgallen. Con: T Wood (1 from 3), T Butler (0 from 1).

Glasgow Warriors: Josh McKay; Kyle Rowe, Stafford McDowall (c), Kerr Yule (Matthew Urwin 77), Ollie Smith; Dan Lancaster, Ben Afshar (Jack Oliver 65); Jamie Bhatti (Nathan McBeth 46), Seb Stephen (Grant Stewart 77), Murphy Walker (Sam Talakai 38); Alex Craig (Dylan Cockburn 77), Jare Oguntibeju (Macenzzie Duncan 65); Euan Ferrie, Angus Fraser (Sione Vailanu 46), Ally Miller.

Munster: Mike Haley; Thaakir Abrahams, Shane Daly, Dan Kelly, Diarmuid Kilgallen (Sean O’Brien 75); Tony Butler (Tom Wood 46), Ethan Coughlan (Paddy Patterson 46); Mark Donnelly, Diarmuid Barron (c) (Lee Barron 53), Oli Jager (Michael Ala’alatoa 17); Evan O’Connell, Fineen Wycherley (Gavin Coombes 46-55); Seán Edogbo, Ruadhán Quinn (Jack O’Donoghue 46), Brian Gleeson.

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales).