CONNACHT 20
MUNSTER 11
CONNACHT HOPE THEIR NEW 4G pitch will be one of the best surfaces in the world. The job now is making sure they have a winning team to play on it.
Tonight they had. Despite making hard work of it – spurning seven easy points from the kicking tee and potentially three more when they opted to take a tap-and-go rather than a kick at the posts on 73 minutes – they got the job done.
They’ll know who to thank. First their tighthead, Finlay Bealham, who was deservedly named player of the match even if he had competition for that prize. Mack Hansen looked electric on the wing, Oisin Dowling and Gavin Thornbury put in a shift in the engine room, Jack Carty tormented the Munster back three with a series of clever kicks.
And yet, and yet, they nearly blew it. Off the tee, Carty was wayward, missing three from three, missed opportunities that threatened to come back and haunt him. But in the end, their pack fronted up when Carty needed them too, squeezing over for two second half tries, Bealham with the first, Paul Boyle the second, to secure a nine-point win.
For Munster, problems are mounting. They’ve won just one from four and while we saw glimpses of their new-look attack, that’s all we got, a sneak preview rather than a full-length show. They were outclassed out wide, bettered in the scrum, troubled by Connacht’s maul, superior just at the breakdown and the occasions when they got their own maul going.
Where they go from here is a big question. Qualification for the Champions Cup isn’t as easy as it used to be and unless Munster start picking up points, they are going to have some sleepless nights.
As for tonight, well, from their perspective it was a shocker.
Somehow they went into the break 8-5 ahead which needs a bit of explaining because in almost every facet of the play, Connacht were dominant. The scrum, for a start, was a profitable source, Bealham winning two penalties, Denis Buckley a third, allowing Connacht access to the Munster 22.
It paid off, their opening try coming on eight minutes, Bealham’s fine work at the set-piece followed by a move of supreme quality, Kieran Marmion ensuring there was pace and flow to it, David Hawkshaw making inroads off one phase, Shamus Hurley-Langton getting even closer to the Munster line with another carry.
Suddenly space appeared out wide – and Carty didn’t waste time exploiting it – throwing a looping pass left to the touchline where Hansen was waiting to collect and score. Better again, the winger ran across the in-goal area to make the conversion easier for his captain.
But somehow Carty missed it, striking the same post he’d hit nine minutes later from an even kinder angle, thereby denying Connacht the 11-point lead their efforts deserved.
Worse still, by 25 minutes they were pinned back, Munster scoring with their first entry to their 22 – they the recipients of a favourable penalty decision by ref Chris Busby, which allowed them access to the red zone where their maul clicked into gear, Munster’s pack marching Connacht’s 15 yards backwards before an intricate passing move between Dan Goggin and Ben Healy ended with Patrick Campbell touching down in the left corner.
There should have been another Connacht try before half-time, Hansen again threatening out wide, but he narrowly failed to connect with his full-back, Conor Fitzgerald, who got his timing slightly off with the line in sight.
And yet despite all the positive aspects to their display, Bealham’s superb display both in the tight and the loose, Oisin Dowling’s towering performance at lock, Carty’s subtle shifts from a passing to kicking game, they trailed at the break, essentially because they failed to take their chances, whereas Munster were much more efficient, Healy scoring a penalty on 39 minutes to make it 8-5.
Soon after the restart it was 11-5, Healy’s 46th minute penalty coming after Munster’s maul afforded him the opportunity to take a strike at goal.
Key to the turnaround was Bealham’s 54th minute try – awarded after a long deliberation by Busby with his TMO – a score spoiled somewhat by Carty’s missed conversion.
That prompted a change in kicker, Limerick-born Conor Fitzgerald taking over the duties, and reacting maturely, getting a penalty to put Connacht ahead and then a conversion following Boyle’s 78th minute try to ensure there was at least one Munster man going home happy tonight.
Connacht scorers
Tries: Hansen, Bealham, Boyle
Conversions: Carty (0/2) Fitzgerald (1/1)
Penalties: Carty (0/1) Fitzgerald (1/1)
Munster scorers
Tries: Campbell
Conversions: Healy (0/1)
Penalties: Healy (2/2)
Connacht: Conor Fitzgerald, John Porch, Byron Ralston, David Hawkshaw, Mack Hansen, Jack Carty (CAPT) Kieran Marmion (rep: Colm Reilly ’59), Denis Buckley (rep: Peter Dooley ’48), Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham (rep: Jack Aungier ’59), Gavin Thornbury, Oisín Dowling (rep: Niall Murray ’61), Shamus Hurley-Langton (rep: Josh Murphy ’51), Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler (rep: Paul Boyle ’54)
Replacements nnot used: Grant Stewart, Tom Daly,
Munster: Joey Carbery, Conor Phillips, Malakai Fekitoa, Dan Goggin (rep: Rory Scannell ’72), Patrick Campbell, Ben Healy (rep: Fionn Gibbons ’66), Conor Murray (rep: Craig Casey ’59), Dave Kilcoyne (rep: Jeremy Loughman ’41), Niall Scannell (rep: Scott Buckley ’75), Keynan Knox (rep: Stephen Archer ’50), Jean Kleyn (rep: Edwin Edogbo ’50), Tadhg Beirne, Jack O’Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony (rep: Jack O’Sullivan ’73), Gavin Coombes
Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU)