JJ HANRAHAN CAME close to being the game-winner with his late, late drop-goal attempt but agonisingly saw it slip wide as Munster drew 21-21 at home to Racing 92 in the Champions Cup.
Failing to win in Thomond Park is a real rarity for the southern province but Johann van Graan’s side have Hanrahan to thank for securing two points in large part, with the out-half slotting a touchline conversion to level the scores during the endgame.
Returning from a hamstring injury that ruled him out of last weekend’s win away to the Ospreys, Hanrahan was sharp for Munster and captain Peter O’Mahony stressed that the drop-goal slipping wide shouldn’t mask a strong showing from the number 10.
“Back from an injury and an 80-minute performance,” said Munster skipper O’Mahony. “He kicked an incredible conversion to get us two points… they’re pressure kicks, you know? That fella trains harder than anyone.
“He’ll be disappointed himself after but he shouldn’t be. I thought he had a class performance and that conversion was certainly out of the top drawer.”
Hanrahan’s conversion after providing the assist for Andrew Conway’s try ensured Munster had a share of the spoils following a display that saw them mix excellent passages with costly errors and lapses in focus.
O’Mahony admitted it was a strange feeling drawing at Thomond Park and that his side had perhaps been a little fortunate to come away without a defeat.
“It’s kinda hard to say,” was O’Mahony’s immediate sense post-match. “Around 50 minutes we shouldn’t have been next to or near a draw and then with 10 minutes to go, we could have won it.
“I don’t think we played well enough to win the game, to be totally honest with you. We played some very good rugby but some mental lapses defensively cost you against teams like that.
“I thought they played really well and we played some really good rugby as well but overall, it probably flattered us a bit getting the draw with the way they played and the overall way we played. That would be my gut feeling.”
O’Mahony said facing former team-mates Simon Zebo and Donnacha Ryan hadn’t been a factor for his side, with the Racing pair “not in the right colour jersey.”
Despite frustrations against Racing’s world-class lineout defence, O’Mahony feels Munster will take some encouragement from the manner in which they rescued their draw in the end.
“It was great. Around 50 or 52 minutes, we were on the ropes and we stuck at it, stayed at it, showed up defensively in important moments, got the ball back with a couple of big plays and got ourselves down there.
“We’re never a team to roll over, particularly not at home and we ground out the two points, which will stand to us.”
Next up for Munster in Europe are back-to-back ties against reigning champions Saracens next month, with a Pro14 clash against Edinburgh in Cork to come next weekend, but van Graan’s side move on without scrum-half Alby Mathewson.
The Kiwi’s 15-month stint with Munster came to an end with his replacement appearance against Racing tonight, and O’Mahony paid tribute to the departing halfback.
“He has contributed from the moment he arrived to his last game,” said O’Mahony. “I spoke about him inside, he was a standard-setter from the minute he arrived, training-wise, competitive-wise. He’s a good guy to have around the squad, good around young fellas, good to sit and have a chat with, just a good person.
“He fitted in incredibly well and we’re very grateful for his effort and we’ll be sad to see him go. I was chatting to the lads last night, we’ll miss him around, he’s good craic.”