Skipper’s brace sees Munster continue their winning run

Mlunster, 17 Connacht 15

It was a cold and windy night in Thomond Park but this Round Five of the URC game certainly served up an entertaining 80 minutes of rugby. It was also an injury strewn match with one of the Connacht players suffering a bad injury that caused a long break in play three minutes after the restart. Then a second player in the white shirt need treatment but decided to continue. 

Connacht started off with four minutes of possession which was halted when the scrum-half knocking the ball on. Then it was Munster’s chance to invade the visitor’s territory and put the first score on the scoreboard but a failure at a lineout left Connacht off the hook. The Westerners suffered a set-back when they lost Finn Treacy after ten minutes and wiith 25 minutes played, the visitors got a great chance to go in front when they pummelled the home line, 

The first score came after 15 minutes and what a lovely piece of running rugby it was, skipper Jack O’Donoghue dotting down at the Ballynanty end but JJ Hanrahan’s conversion went wide of the post. Connacht responded, keeping possession to get into a scoring position, Byron Ralston saw the gap and raced over but Josh Ioane failed to convert. With 28 minutes played Connacht went ahead, Byron Ralston again finding a gap in the home defence to touch down but once again the conversion was missed.

An intercept pass gifted Munster a seven points gift on 32 minutes, Diarmuid Kilgallen racing away from inside his own half, JJ Hanrahan converted. Munster were back in the lead 12-10 with 33 minutes played. In the final minutes Connacht forced their way to the ten metre line at the Mayorstone end and after colsultaton with the referee, the TMO awarded a try. Once again the conversion was missed. Half time: Munster 12, Connacht 15.

We had to wait until the 50th minute of the second half for the home side to seriously challenge the visitors’ defence but they failed to win their own lineout fifteen metres out. Frustrations contiued as Connacht bravely put their tackets to good effect. Paitience paid off on 67 minutes for the home side and a second try by Jack O’Donoghue put them ahead by 17-15 on 68 minutes. Tony Butler missed the conversion. Munster continued the pound the Connacht line but you have to admire their courage in defence.

Munster Rugby: Shane Daly, Diarmuid Kilgallen, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams, JJ Hanrahan, Ethan Coughlan; Michael Milne, Lee Barron, John Ryan, Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley, Jack O’Donoghue (c), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Jeremy Loughman, Ronan Foxe, Evan O’Connell, Ruadhan Quinn, Jake O’Riordan, Tony Butler, Shay McCarthy
Connacht Rugby: Harry West, Byron Ralston, Hugh Gavin, Cathal Forde, Finn Treacy, Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy, Jordan Duggan, Dave Heffernan, Sam Illo, Joe Joyce, Darragh Murray, Josh Murphy, Paul Boyle (c), Sean Jansen
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin, Peter Dooley, Fiachna Barrett, Niall Murray, David O’Connor, Matthew Devine, Sean Naughton, Sean O’Brien

You must be logged in to post a comment Login