Carbery And O’Mahony Show Their Class As Munster Knock Out Chiefs

Joey Carbery and Peter O’Mahony inspired a stirring 26-10 Heineken Champions Cup win for Munster as they knocked out 2020 champions Exeter Chiefs at Thomond Park.

Chiefs travelled with a 13-8 first leg lead, but Carbery reeled off 21 points, captain O’Mahony was the turnover king, and Damian de Allende’s 72nd-minute try booked Munster’s quarter-final place.

Back from injury, out-half Carbery kicked two penalties and converted his own 25th-minute try as the home side – despite Conor Murray’s early sin-binning – built a 13-5 half-time lead.

Sam Maunder’s try from a quick tap was Exeter’s only first half score, with a late Joe Simmonds penalty from long range falling wide.

South African number 8 Jacques Vermeulen drove over in the 48th minute, giving the visitors a narrow aggregate advantage.

Munster finished the stronger, though, with Carbery adding a brace of penalties before de Allende delivered the decisive blow, sealing a 34-23 aggregate victory and a home date with Toulouse, who edged out Ulster by a single point over two legs.

Carbery split the posts with a fifth-minute penalty, yet Exeter threatened twice out wide and then used their powerful pick and drives, led by Vermeulen and Dave Ewers, to press for an early try.

It duly arrived when scrum half Maunder reacted quickest to a penalty, drew contact and reached out to score. Murray, as the initial tackler, was not back 10 metres and promptly sin-binned.

Simmonds’ missed conversion was followed by a second penalty from Carbery, with Munster’s canny knack of winning turnovers – they accumulated seven by the break – coming to the fore.

John Hodnett and O’Mahony both impressed at the breakdown before Carbery managed to dummy through, inside Harry Williams, for a smartly-taken converted try.

Now trailing 21-18 on aggregate, Exeter were held scoreless up to the interval as Tom O’Flaherty was thwarted by Chris Farrell and Simmonds missed from the tee.

Stuart Hogg’s injection of pace into the Chiefs attack had the forwards gaining ground on the restart. They turned down two shots at the posts before Vermeulen burrowed over with support from Ian Whitten and Alec Hepburn.

Simmonds’ conversion curled wide off the left hand post, leaving Exeter 13-10 down but ahead over the two ties (23-21). Vermeulen increased his influence with a vital penalty win.

Nonetheless, on the hour mark, O’Mahony drove Ewers back leading to a penalty which the wind-backed Carbery crisply nailed from 32 metres out.

Jannes Kirsten’s side-entry was also punished with another Carbery kick for 19-10, this time from just inside the Exeter half.

The wily O’Mahony secured another timely turnover, foiling a dangerous Exeter attack, and Munster continued to win the small moments with 10 minutes remaining.

Chiefs could not break down their defence, and when Munster finally found space out wide, Simon Zebo’s sumptuous offload sent de Allende over in the corner. Carbery’s conversion left Exeter with too much to do.

After qualifying for their first quarter-final since 2019, Munster head coach Johann van Graan said: “Look, two very proud clubs went at each other, a very unique experience over the two legs, but the 16th man pulled us through today.

“We, as a group, said that to claw back that five-point difference is going to be massive. The fact that we were unbeaten in the pool stages meant that we were always going to finish up here at Thomond Park.

“We banked on the crowd and they were phenomenal today. We knew it was going to be a breakdown and a set-piece battle, that is why we went 6-2 again (in terms of the forwards-backs split on the bench).

“The starters did really well and I felt that the forwards that came on were massive, with some massive hits.

“Exeter keep the ball well and I felt we were extremely disciplined in terms of when to go for the breakdown. I’m very glad that we just came though, with plus-11 points over the two weekends.”

Acknowledging how well Carbery played, he added: “I said to Joey earlier in the week that when I had met him a few years ago that I have so much belief in him. He is such a special player.”