Danny Cipriani’s first half red card was the major talking point after Munster ran out 36-22 bonus point winners over 14-man Gloucester in a scrappy Heineken Champions Cup clash at Thomond Park.
Danny Cipriani was sent off by French referee Alexandre Ruiz for a 28th-minute high tackle on Rory Scannell – his right shoulder met the head of the advancing Munster centre – to complete a frustrating week for the mercurial out-half who was omitted from England’s autumn international squad on Thursday.
Tries from Mike Haley (20 minutes) and Rhys Marshall (34) gave Munster a 15-3 half-time lead, with Gloucester also having lock Tom Savage sin-binned. The province, who gained a valuable draw at Exeter in round one, had their bonus point by the 55th minute thanks to man-of-the-match Joey Carbery’s first European try in the red jersey and a Sam Arnold score.
Andrew Conway added a fifth try in front of a 23,068-strong crowd but Munster’s poor discipline saw them end the game with 13 players – replacements Arnold and Stephen Archer both saw yellow – as Gloucester staged a late rally with tries from former Munster lock Gerbrandt Grober, Jason Woodward and the excellent Ben Morgan, albeit that a late bonus point eluded them.
Already down a few bodies, including Gallagher Premiership top try scorer Charlie Sharples (hamstring), Gloucester rejigged their front row before kick-off with Fraser Balmain (illness) dropping out. They got off to a bright start by disrupting Munster’s lineout and Val Rapava Ruskin, Balmain’s replacement, won a scrum penalty.
Munster were fortunate to get away with just a penalty for CJ Stander’s collapsed maul near his own try-line, before a Tadhg Beirne turnover lifted the hosts. They soon took advantage after the match officials deemed Savage’s shoulder-led clearout on Dan Goggin worthy of a yellow card.
Gloucester were caught narrow in defence and good width from Munster put full-back Haley over in the right corner. Carbery swept the conversion wide to the left, and Munster captain Peter O’Mahony coughed up a penalty which Cipriani turned into three points with a booming long-range kick.
However, the 30-year-old received his marching orders just a few minutes later, being caught too upright in a tackle on Scannell which also involved Ruskin. Carbery sent the resulting penalty over for 8-3 and he converted after Billy Twelvetrees was pinged for another high tackle and hooker Marshall struck from an impressive lineout maul.
A worrying ankle injury forced Tommy O’Donnell off before the interval and Munster also lost the services of try scorer Marshall midway through and Goggin right at the death, while Tom Marshall joined Franco Marais on the sidelines as injuries further impacted the Gloucester line-up.
Playing a scrum penalty advantage, Carbery wrapped around Goggin to raid in beside the posts in the 50th minute, and the young number 10’s classy behind-the-back pass added momentum to an attack which ended with Arnold’s well-taken try.
Even at 29-3 down, Gloucester were far from finished. Grobler scored from close range following a series of Munster penalties and Matt Banahan threatened before full-back Woodward crossed in the left corner. Conway sandwiched in Munster’s fifth, via Carbery’s soft hands, with the latter tallying up 16 points as the home side’s leading performer, closely followed by Beirne.
The province now lead Pool 2, two points clear of Castres Olympique who were 29-25 winners at home to Exeter. However, Munster’s disappointing finish slightly took the shine off their victory as they allowed the Cherry & Whites to dictate possession, Morgan burrowing over in the 78th minute, in between those yellows for Arnold (deliberate knock-on) and Archer (high tackle).
Giving his post-match reaction, Munster head coach van Graan said: “I’m very glad about the five points. We will take five points at home in Europe any day of the week. If you told us two weeks ago that we would be sitting on top of the group with seven points we would have taken it.
“(The injuries are) serious. Tommy has gone to the hospital, no confirmation yet but I believe he broke his leg. Dan Goggin looks like a serious knee injury. Also lost Rhys Marshall which looked like a serious upper leg injury so we’ll know more on Monday.
“Big loss, only eight weeks into the season and three starters that go down like this. With all the injuries that we have currently that are not in the squad, long season ahead but it’s worrying from our side and it just shows the game at this stage.”
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