Connacht’s Late Rally Not Enough As Munster Extend Lead

13-man Munster survived a frantic finish to this Guinness PRO14 top of the table clash to emerge as breathless 16-10 winners over Connacht at the Sportsground.

A last-gasp match-winning try eluded the home side, who came right back into contention late on through Peter Sullivan’s 78th-minute try and two sin-binnings for Munster replacements Rory Scannell and Nick McCarthy.

Munster had scored 10 points during Shane Delahunt’s sin-bin period, including an 18th-minute try from Chris Farrell, to lead by seven at half-time. Jack Carty replied with a late penalty for Connacht.

Munster’s control of the breakdown was decisive – player-of-the-match Tadhg Beirne starred in this area – and two second half penalties from JJ Hanrahan, who finished with 11 points, had them marked out as comfortable winners until that late scare.

The result puts Johann van Graan’s men 11 points clear at the top of Conference B, while second-placed Connacht, who were unable to repeat last week’s heroics from the Leinster game, have the Scarlets and Cardiff Blues snapping at their heels.

Carty was frustrated by a poor penalty miss in the third minute, before Hanrahan split the posts following a dominant lineout drive which also landed Connacht hooker Delahunt in the bin.

Munster’s power-packed maul provided the platform for the night’s first try, collecting a penalty advantage before centre Farrell crossed from a Conor Murray pass. Hanrahan converted for 10-0.

Connacht pressed for a try of their own off a penalty, with Tom Daly threatening from midfield, but Munster stood firm and their control of the breakdown was increasing.

Given their 59% share of possession across the opening 40 minutes, the westerners needed points and got them just before the break when out-half Carty punished Stephen Archer’s collapsing of a scrum.

Daly was caught offside early in the second half, allowing Hanrahan to claim back those three points. Connacht had opportunities to build some pressure, but Beirne, Gavin Coombes and CJ Stander all forced breakdown penalties.

Hanrahan stretched the lead to 16-3 with a 61st-minute penalty, awarded for former Munster man Sam Arnold not rolling away.

However, the men in red allowed their discipline to slip and an accumulation of penalties saw Scannell binned with four minutes remaining.

Connacht worked the ball wide for replacement Sullivan to score near the right corner and Carty brilliantly converted. It gave them a losing bonus point, but it could have been much more.

A superb last-minute surge, including a sidestepping run by the impressive Ultan Dillane, led to McCarthy’s yellow and a furious scramble close to the Munster line that saw Connacht ultimately fall just short.

Giving his reaction afterwards, Munster head coach van Graan said: “We are pleased with the victory but it is a really tough place to come to, specifically against a side that is very high on confidence.

“I thought we did very well for 39 minutes of the first half then we conceded that penalty that made it 11-3 at half-time.

“Connacht did really well in the last 20 minutes of the game and I’m really glad we came through this one. All credit to all involved – it was a very difficult place to defend a scrum, five yards from your own try line with 13 men. I thought we did really well.”

Connacht boss Andy Friend commented: “That’s very frustrating, to have worked that hard and to have had that fight right up until the death. You should take that chance but we didn’t. A scrum against 13 men and we weren’t smart.

“It’s 80 minutes, you’ve got to play the whole 80 minutes. I would have said with about 20 minutes to go, 16-3, that if we got a (losing bonus) point we would have been doing well.

“But from then onwards, it looked like we started to actually believe we could win the game and started to trust all the things that we said we wanted to do.

“We didn’t do it for the previous 60 minutes, which was frustrating. We’ve got to be better than that. We weren’t clinical enough in the first half, we had guys coming off the page. You can’t play as individuals against Munster.”