Munster 21
Crusaders 19
“GOOD LUCK, GARETH!” shouted one punter from outside The Venue pub on the Blackrock Road to the man stood at the front door of the next building.
“Huge day for ye!”
Gareth, who runs the Basil Deli & Market with his wife Carole, nodded in appreciation before staring back down the hill towards Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Three hours later, his son, Alex Kendellen, would lead Munster out in front of over 40,000 people, a puck of a ball away from the family business and within a two-minute walk of home.
Munster Rugby’s greatest success has always been its ability to create something that feels local between six counties that are usually separated by parochiality.
This was a rare occasion on which the province united in full song on Leeside, where they watched Graham Rowntree’s inexperienced side squeak home against an equivalent version of the Super Rugby-champion Crusaders.
In the end, Páirc Uí Chaoimh breathed a sign of relief as the tourists’ backup out-half, Rivez Reihana, missed a levelling conversion with time elapsed. Munster would have kicked themselves had they botched it from an early 14-0 lead, but the Crusaders’ attitude in their first pre-season outing of 2024 was exemplary.
Two Munster tries by Gavin Coombes and a third by Scott Buckley dictated that the southern province were just about in command until that last-ditch score by Jamie Hannah, and while they may rue their lack of ruthlessness in a third quarter, the game provided invaluable experience to youngsters and fringe players against high-calibre opposition.
Until Munster’s final stand, the atmosphere was less electrifying and more akin to that of a high-end U20s game — understandable given the lack of stakes and, with due respect to the handful of internationals in both ranks, the lack of established stars on display.
But the fact alone that Munster can sell out a game of this nature at a stadium the size of Páirc Uí Chaoimh is a kind of self-perpetuating characteristic of the province’s mystique, and the sheer size of the crowd demanded that the game was of an up-tempo, competitive and, most importantly, enjoyable quality.
Those eyeballs seemed to spark errors, too, with both scratch teams — and particularly the hosts — guilty of forcing things on occasion.
But it was mid-season Munster who were understandably the better-oiled outfit than their equally green, but less aerobically fit opponents, for whom tonight was a first warm-up ahead of the new Super Rugby season later this month.
That Crusaders made for exotic foes had coaxed bums into seats but earlier in the week, the tourists had equally invested into the local element of their first tour game.
Rob Penney, who lived for two years in Cork when he coached Munster a decade ago, arranged midweek training sessions for his side at both Presentation Brothers College and Christian Brothers College on either side of Cork city, ‘sharing the love’ between the rival schools as he put it.
Throughout the week, the Super Rugby champions also welcomed behind the curtain numerous coaches and medical staff from within club rugby in Munster, offering a glimpse at their operations.
On Thursday, after their session up at CBC’s Lansdowne ground, they hosted a Q&A for ex-pat Kiwis, many of whom were seeing their club in the flesh for the first time in years.
And come game time, the Crusaders treated Cork to a piece of their own culture, too: the Canterbury outfit — with Wales legend Leigh Halfpenny involved — performed a Haka before kick-off which was observed in a silence reminiscent of the All Blacks’ visit to Thomond Park in 2008.
For many Munster fans, meanwhile, the occasion had kicked off in earnest at a fan-zone at the Marina Market on Centre Park Road, from where a legion of them marched to the Páirc behind the 17-piece Butter Exchange Band.
Back row Ruadhán Quinn further warmed them up when he thwarted a bright Kiwi start with a jackal turnover on midfield.
Munster had the first sight of whitewash soon afterwards, Seán O’Brien’s left arm proving about an inch too short as he stretched and spilled forward in the left-hand corner.
But a spell of early home pressure eventually told: Gavin Coombes produced the inevitable from close range and Joey Carbery poked one over for 7-zip.
Only an extraordinary piece of last-gasp defence by left wing Macca Springer and out-half Taha Kemara denied Munster a quick second: a wonderful break by Joey Carbery — exceptional throughout — carved an opening for Shane Daly. The Munster fullback bolted for home from the Kiwis’ 22′ only to be held up over the line by the two scrambling defenders.
Crusaders skipper Quinten Strange was then binned just after the half-hour mark for interfering with Coughlan from an offside position and Munster instantly made him pay.
With the New Zealanders down a lock, the hosts first gained big yardage off a lineout maul from the resultant penalty, eventually winning another. Then, from five metres, they rolled to within an inch before Coombes burrowed over for his second.
Penney’s Crusaders were putting up a better fight than South Africa’s seconds at Munster’s last Páirc outing, though, and they roared back into the game with a try that exhibited the best of Super Rugby.
It was scrum-half Mitch Drummond who eventually dotted down, but only after a wonderful transition attack by wings Chay Fihaki and Macca Springer, who combined to release inside centre Fallas McLeod down the left edge. McLeod then rolled out the red carpet for Drummond, who waltzed over to warm applause from the home crowd.
Out-half Kemara chipped over from between the sticks to narrow the deficit to seven at the turnaround.
Munster blew several chances to extend their lead in the third quarter and they were made to pay on 65 minutes when the Crusaders again hit the accelerator from long range.
A tidy offload by replacement lock Jamie Hannah set free backup 10 Rivez Reihana, and he fed midfielder McLeod who took it on the angle, through Shane Daly, and to the house.
It will be recorded as a rare missed tackle by Munster’s fullback, so often their saviour in such situations, and it was compounded when Reihana split the posts from the left-hand touchline to level the scores.
With both benches emptying fast, Munster then won a scrum penalty inside the Crusaders’ 22′. Rather than chip over the three points, they made a decision befitting the event and went bigtime, to the corner.
Off the back of the resulting maul, Gareth Kendellen’s youngfella took them within a couple of yards before replacement hooker Scott Buckley made like Coombes and burrowed under desperate Kiwi arms to score. Carbery stretched the lead out to seven.
However, despite a couple of solid defensive stands — and massive assistance from the crowd — Rowntree’s inexperienced charges were unable to hold the fort.
With the clock red, Crusaders crossed for a third time, the impressive Jamie Hannah finishing from a lineout drive.
That left Reihana with a chance to level proceedings from the tee but the replacement out-half pulled his kick wide left, much to the enjoyment of the home support. Reihana turned to the North Stand, his hands on his hips, and offered a rueful smile to the home faithful. He was immediately comforted by Daly.
Towards midfield, meanwhile, Munster’s Kiwi centre Alex Nankivell shot the breeze and posed for pictures with several of his fellow countrymen.
Those final moments, when the game felt like it really mattered to those in the stands, were a reminder of how special it could be if Munster eventually return to Páirc Uí Chaoimh for a knockout game.
If last season’s South Africa ‘A’ game and and tonight’s encounter were feasibility tests, consider them passed.
That’s probably all we learned about Munster on an a night of heavy experimentation, but even that much was worthwhile.
Scorers for Munster: Tries: Gavin Coombes (2), Scott Buckley Cons: Joey Carbery (3/3)
Scorers for Crusaders: Tries: Mitch Drummond, Dallas McLeod, Jamie Hannah. Cons: Taha Kemara (1/1), Rivez Reihana (1/2).
MUNSTER RUGBY: Shane Daly; Seán O’Brien, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell, Shay McCarthy; Joey Carbery, Ethan Coughlan; Josh Wycherley, Eoghan Clarke, Stephen Archer; Gavin Coombes, Fineen Wycherley; Ruadhán Quinn, Alex Kendellen (C), Jack O’Sullivan.
Replacements: Scott Buckley, Mark Donnelly, John Ryan, Kamil Nowak, Jack Daly, Daniel Okeke, Neil Cronin, Tony Butler, Rory Scannell, Colm Hogan.
CRUSADERS: Leigh Halfpennny; Chay Fihaki, Levi Aumua, Dallas McLeod, Macca Springer; Taha Kemara, Mitch Drummond; George Bower, George Bell, Owen Franks; Quinten Strange (C), Tahlor Cahill; Dominic Gardiner, Tom Christie, Cullen Grace.
Replacements: Ioane Moananu, Kershawl Sykes-Martin, Seb Calder, Jamie Hannah, Christian Lio-Willie, Noah Hotham, Rivez Reihana, Ryan Crotty, Josh Southall, Heremaia Murray.