Munster 10
Glasgow Warriors 17
THERE WILL BE no Irish involvement in this season’s URC final after Glasgow Warriors ground out a hard-fought 17-10 semi-final win over Munster at Thomond Park, hours after the Bulls had proved too strong for Leinster in South Africa.
This was a bitterly disappointing day for Munster as their dreams of a home URC final was dashed by a Glasgow team who defended with impressive determination and, crucially, took the few chances that came their way – with Kyle Steyn and Sebastian Cancelliere crossing in either half for the Scottish side.
Munster’s sole try of the evening came through Antoine Frisch, adding to a first-half Jack Crowley penalty.
This was a poor Munster display, with their accuracy and execution letting them down throughout the 80 minutes.
In the opening 40 they fought hard but lacked the necessary incision in the Glasgow half, Crowley scoring their only points of the half from the tee in the 11th minute.
Across a chaotic first-half Munster’s attacking game struggled to click, repeatedly building nice passages of play before the move would break down – often through their own unforced errors.
As the afternoon rain cleared Munster made a positive start, immediately building pressure in the Glasgow half after a big shove at the scrum and stringing together a series of sharp passes.
Moving the ball with pace and accuracy an early try looked on the cards but after winning the first penalty of the game with three minutes on the clock, Crowley opted for the posts and sent his kick wide from a central position – the out-half perhaps yet to get a handle on the strong breeze crossing the pitch.
Then the Munster errors started. An overthrown lineout allowed Glasgow to counter and powerful centre Sione Tuipulotu – who was excellent throughout – went close before a Mike Haley turnover got Munster out of jail.
After surviving that early scare a series of penalties brought Munster up the field. A promising lineout maul came to a halt before Alex Nankivell went close, and after a couple more snipes at the line referee Andrea Piardi lost patience with Glasgow’s rising penalty count. Richie Gray was yellow-carded for offside as Crowley clipped over an easy three points to put his team on the board.
The game became increasingly open, Tadhg Beirne coming up with two turnovers to frustrate Glasgow – the second a sensational steal while running at full tilt in the Glasgow 22.
A Munster error then allowed Glasgow sweep into the lead – an Antoine Frisch pass was spilled by Nankivell on halfway, with Warriors wing Steyn on hand to run in the game’s opening try. George Horne converted and Glasgow led 7-3 with 25 minutes played.
Munster continued to be their own worst enemy. Fineen Wycherley was pinged for not releasing as another attack come to nothing, before Craig Casey knocked the ball on at the base of the scrum.
Shane Daly was the next offender, getting his wires crossed with Haley as the two collided leading to an accidental offside. Simon Zebo broke down the left only to be forced into touch, before Wycherley gave away another penalty moments later.
All the while Munster’s lineout struggled for consistency and Glasgow’s defence held strong. A strong win in the air by Peter O’Mahony led to Crowley slipping through a gap, before Glasgow came up the turnover.
O’Mahony was heavily involved throughout and to no surprise, was at the heart of the niggle that surrounded every battle in the air and on the ground. One of his last actions of the half was to take an arm to the face from Matt Fagerson – the Glasgow flanker yellow-carded after tempers flared near the tunnel.
Glasgow went in at the break a man down, but holding onto a four-point lead.
The second half didn’t take long to ignite – Beirne coming up with another two steals in the first five minutes, pinching a Glasgow lineout in the Munster 22 before another jackal penalty had the crowd on their feet.
Their momentum was building, and Graham Rowntree used the break in play to send in RG Snyman, Diarmuid Barron and Oli Jager.
Glasgow had a chance to take some sting of out Munster’s surge, but Horne dragged a penalty attempt wide from the right flank.
With the next passage of play they were far more clinical. Countering off kick return, Huw Jones tore past Sean O’Brien and into space before playing in Cancelliere, who had the pace to beat Zebo to the line for the game’s second try. Horne converted and Munster’s dream of a home URC final looked to be slipping out of reach.
When another attack ended in frustration – a push near the Glasgow tryline resulting in a Glasgow turnover – it began to feel like it might be one of those days.
And then it all came together. Snyman blocked a Glasgow kick and O’Mahony snaffled up the loose ball before Snyman got his big legs moving to carry Munster forward. The South African lock had support from Jeremy Loughman off his shoulder and the prop did well to charge for the tryline before being tackled to ground. O’Mahony was in quick to whip the ball back to Casey, who sent Frisch over in the corner.
Crowley converted and with just over 20 minutes left to play, the comeback felt on.
But it was Glasgow who started winning the small moments again, with the majority of the next 10 minutes played in Munster’s half.
Munster had their chances but their accuracy remained poor. John Hodnett carried into contact when Daly was perhaps a better option off his shoulder, before Snyman knocked on a ball he should have gathered – that was the home side’s ninth handling error of the game. It was soon 10 – Sean O’Brien spilling a pass as Munster tried to work a way out of their half.
Time was slipping away for the province, and in the 74th minute Munster were dealt a double-blow – Horne moving Glasgow seven points clear as Nankivell was red-carded for a dangerous hit on the Warriors scrum-half at the ruck.
There was one last chance, Crowley kicking for touch before Beirne won the ball at the lineout to send Munster surging. They moved the ball across the pitch but with Glasgow holding their shape Snyman’s pass inside was knocked-on by John Ryan.
Glasgow kept possession from the scrum to see out the final moments, as Munster’s season came to a crashing halt.
Munster scorers:
Try – Frisch
Penalty – Crowley [1/2]
Conversion – Crowley [1/1]
Glasgow scorers:
Tries – Steyn, Cancelliere
Penalty – Horne [1/2]
Conversions – Horne [2/2]
MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell (Sean O’Brien, 47-57 blood), Simon Zebo (Sean O’Brien 62); Jack Crowley, Craig Casey (Conor Murray, 57); Jeremy Loughman (John Ryan, 66), Niall Scannell (Diarmuid Barron, 46), Stephen Archer (Oli Jager, 46); Fineen Wycherley (RG Snyman, 46), Tadhg Beirne (capt); Peter O’Mahony, John Hodnett (Alex Kendellen, 73), Jack O’Donoghue (Gavin Coombes, 55).
Red card: Nankivell 74
GLASGOW: Josh McKay; Sebastian Cancelliere (Jamie Dobie,, 57), Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Kyle Steyn (capt); Tom Jordan, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti (Oli Kebble, 71), Johnny Matthews (George Turner, 57), Zander Fagerson; Scott Cummings, Richie Gray (Max Williamson, 57); Matt Fagerson (Euan Ferrie, 61-71 HIA), Rory Darge (Henco Venter, 57), Jack Dempsey.
Yellow card: Gray 11, Fagerson 41.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Attendance: 20,052
My sincere condolences to all true Munster supporters.
To all the others who so very much enjoyed Leinster’s defeat..eat humble pie, guys.
The Big Issue is that, Internationally and Provincially, Ireland is in decline.
The Golden Era of Leinster players is ageing and cannot carry the national team further, without the support of all the Provinces.
Okay, change is needed behind the scenes, but what we do not need are the local Provincial knockers.
You know who you are.
Take a hike guys.
@David Osborne: It’s just a game, it’ll all be grand.
Better team won in both games. Wonder will be muster boys spouting on the Leinster article be as vocal on this one?
@Rocky R: 100% accurate regarding results. Only difference really is the munster fans won’t need to have their heads surgically removed from their ar$e$.
@Shane Doherty: lots of tossers in both camps in my experience. Lots of decent skins too.
Ouch, that’s going to hurt all the cheery Munster armchair fans that were throwing the boot into Leinster just a few hours ago. Fluked a URC last year, 2 trophies in 14 years. Last reached a European final in 16 years. After getting a plethora of South African world cup winners over the last decade and they have one rubber ducky URC to count for that. Peter O’Mahony was/is just too good a player to be stuck with just 1 domestic trophy. Chokers they say. Maybe Leinster are chokers in the final….But better than being perennial semi final chokers. Shameful but you just got to love karma baby. It smells……it smells oh so sweet
@Mick Joe: The only time you should brag about coming second is when the Missus comes first.
@Patrick Kennedy: Haha true. No bragging here though. Just a statement that other teams have it worse.
@Mick Joe: how did they fluke a URC trophy last year?
Credit to Glasgow but Munster had an absolute shocker
@John Lonergan: dreadful performance, probably worst of season- earlier ones excused due to injury. The handling was so poor. Very basic errors
@John Lonergan: Worst of the season, in a semi final, at sunny Thomond, all the possession in the world too!!
Munster had there chances ! Most definitely in the the first half, Playing against 14 ! Glasgow definitely deserved that. Big hit for Irish rugby today ☘️
Munster, like Leinster, didn’t get out of the blocks. The opposition outsmarted both teams today.
What was really hard was the lack of scores when they had 20 minutes against 14 men.
Starting a weak team was perhaps the downfall. Also, Haley not a great 15. Nash really missed, bit like Keenan for Leinster. Sad day for Irish rugby.
@Con Cussed: agreed
Biggest bottle job today
@Owen ODonoghue: no that’s still very much the ladyboys, 3 seasons without a trophy with basically a full international squad is by far worse. Munster should have beaten a not great Glasgow side but probably 6-7 Munster players are intl level, so the bottle job is definitely the lady’s
@Michael Corkery: One trophy in 15 years now. The trophy cabinet in Turnipstan beginning to looking like the Burren landscape. Munster are still the king semi-final bottlers. As one famous Munster man sang…..Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon
@Michael Corkery: biggest piece for you to contend with is the Munster team and fan base show little to no passion during games – nobody seemed up for it today
@Mick Joe: So good you said it twice. You truly are a little man!
Snyman thinking he’s Jokic with those no look passes, as a Leinster fan i wish he was going elsewhere next season. Commiserations Munster, I was hoping for a Blue / Red final but it not to be this year. On another note, i hope Farrell brings a lot of new faces from other provinces then my own to SA next month (and for the November games too)
@J M: realistically, a lot of the big names looked tired today and it has been a very long season. Bit of a disaster to be touring SA at the end of it all now. Crowley, POM, Beirne, Furlong, Sheehan, Doris, Porter, JVDF, Lowe, JGP, Keenan, and others have really racked up a lot of minutes both playing and training over the last 12 months for both club and country. A lot of those players could do with a break. Putting them out to play three tests against SA in SA will be absolutely flogging them. We really need to starting bringing in some guys for development and give them meaningful minutes. Izuchukwu, Cian Prendergast, Hodnett, Moore, Herring, Frawley, Tom O’Toole, etc.
However, bad Leinsters bottle job was ( and it was bad) Munsters was worse. They absolutely stank out Thomond Park with that listless & disjointed display. Glasgow 100% deserved that. Hard to lay the blame on a particular Munster player as they were all so bad. But let’s take a moment to reflect on the disaster that was the RJ Synman signing. His performance today summed up his tenure in Limerick. Now off, he skips to rivals Leinster.. A lot of soul searching is going on for Irish rugby after this weekend. We tend not to turn up on the very big occasions..
@Robert O Farrell: he needed the use his size and power today. The offloads were not on or at least his teammates were not ready for them. He has been a poor signing, truth be told
@Robert O Farrell: snyman a disaster.. Injury prone..? Or just getting thresholds in line? Ⓜ
@Robert O Farrell: I thought T Beirne played heroically throughout . Jack o Donoghue was also very good. Too sweeping to say they were all bad.
Mickey Mac what have you to say now?
Fair play to Glasgow they did a proper number on Munster today. Sweet revenge for the quarter final loss.
Glasgow are a good side and played a very smart game today. Best of luck to them in the final.
Disappointing from a Munster point of view. Would have been great to see Zebo in a final in his last ever game.
Munster were only ok last week and I was hoping they were going to deliver a big performance today.
Too much flux with players constantly coming and going just when things look like they are going smoothly. Would love a period of stability where a core group of players get a shot at it together for a coupe of seasons.
So………….how about those Runners? That was great. Thank God we can still shout about them.
@cian nolan: We revert our eyes to the Hurling for penance.
Not even close to good enough today.
@David Osbourne.
Take a bow David for your authentic post. The puerile primary school yard provincial trolls on here at times is hard to take. Yes I believe there is a decline to a certain extent in Irish rugby but at least two of our teams are there or thereabouts at seasons end.On a positive note there are future stars waiting in the wings, Evan O’Connell,future reland captain, Brian Gleeson, Edogbo bros.Ahern, Paddy Mac, Izzy, Wilson, Sam, Boyle and many more.
@Tom Reilly: there are always future stars in the making . The thing is there are guys coming up as well in other countries and they get blooded earlier there. This is nothing more than parallel movement. It remains to be seen if the new generation will be better than todays.
I was backing Munster today. Disappointing outcome and a poor performance in the round. In relation to home venue, one has to question this “greatest supporters in the world” claim. Thomond wasn’t full tonight for a home semi in the URC- 26k capacity wasn’t filled. Makes me wonder. The “story might be better than the store” to quote John Wannamaker.
Hands like shovels today from the lads. Basic skills not good enough – couldn’t build any continuity because of that. Ref played into Glasgow hands though, every stoppage took ages, multiple scrum resets, the 5 second use it rule completely – at the end he said use it and I counted nearly 10 seconds before Glasgow SH picked up the ball.
@Michael Corkery: Yes blame the ref. Take your beating, on home turf, with more NIQs than other other province, like a man.
What amazes me, is the free ride Crowley is getting. If Ross Byrne performed as badly, there would be pages of commentary about it. There were a lot of poor performances in red yesterday but Casey and Crowley were top of that pile. Poor decision making and poor execution from both. Glasgow were good value for their win, they fronted up and defended well. They didn’t do anything different than what you would expect they. They played exactly how Glasgow always do. POM might have been better off, concentrating on his own game, rather than trying to wind up opposition players. He was anonymous other than that.
@Stephen Nolan: That was also my take away. Missed kicks from tee, his kicks to touch were uncharacteristically bad, kicked a nothing high ball to nowhere in the middle of the field, his passing seemed OK and ball in hand and running he made some meters. I’ve no watched it back to look specifically but on first watch I’d say that could be the worst game I’ve seen him play and way off how good he generally is.
I’m a massive fan of Rowntree but on this occasion selection error cost us the match. Snyman and Coombes should have started. We’d have built a lead that would have been defendable in the last twenty…