Munster Fight Off 14-Man Glasgow For Semi-Final Berth

Munster came through a real war of attrition, losing a number of key players to injury and scoring at crucial stages to overcome a fancied Glasgow Warriors side 14-5.

Graham Rowntree’s men became the first visiting team to win at Scotstoun Stadium since La Rochelle in January 2022, with tries from centres Malakai Fekitoa (22 minutes) and Antoine Frisch (27) proving decisive.

Injuries mounted up with captain Peter O’Mahony, RG Snyman and Conor Murray among the walking wounded, but Munster capitalised on Tom Jordan’s 25th-minute red card to set up an all-Irish BKT United Rugby Championship semi-final.

Old rivals and table toppers Leinster await next Saturday in a repeat of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 semi-finals. The winners of that match will face either the DHL Stormers, last season’s champions, or Connacht in the May 27 decider.

Scotstoun has been a tough place for Munster to get a result – with only one win in their last four visits to Glasgow’s west end – and they were also keen to right the wrongs of their 38-26 Thomond Park defeat at the hands of Glasgow in March.

Sione Tuipulotu shrugged off an injured O’Mahony on an early break, but Jack Crowley got back to force a knock-on from Jack Dempsey and Munster stood up to Glasgow’s prolonged pressure.

They coped well with the Scots’ maul threat, which included centre Stafford McDowall as a jumper, and the hosts emerged pointless after turning down two kickable penalties.

Tadhg Beirne, on his return from injury, and Jean Kleyn combined to bring one drive to ground. Making metres out wide, Warriors skipper Kyle Steyn then used two lineout steals to force Munster back on the defensive.

Beirne and Frisch held up Dempsey, denying him a try at the end of another Glasgow surge, and Fekitoa’s bone-crunching tackle on Ollie Smith helped to turn the tide in Munster’s favour.

They began the second quarter with a powerful set of phases, the forwards chipping away before Crowley released Fekitoa to spin out of a Steyn tackle and reach over for the opening seven points from close range.

Glasgow suffered a further blow when Jordan, carrying a hamstring injury as he tried to cover a Murray break, was sent off for a high tackle on the Munster scrum half. It was ‘direct contact to the head’, which ended Murray’s involvement in the quarter-final.

Although Snyman was also off permanently following a HIA, the visitors pressed from the resulting lineout and Frisch grounded the ball despite Smith’s efforts to hold him up. Nice hands from Shane Daly and Crowley created the opportunity close to the posts.

Crowley’s second conversion was almost followed by another Munster try before the interval. Calvin Nash’s brilliant counter-attacking run and chip kick forced Smith to concede a five-metre scrum, but Stephen Archer was held up just short.

Into the second half, the breakdown continued to be fiercely contested and back-to-back penalties – at scrum and lineout time – drew Glasgow within reach of the Munster whitewash.

Despite Fineen Wycherley forcing a knock-on from Dempsey, Franco Smith’s side won two scrum penalties as Zander Fagerson and Jeremy Loughman continued their ding-dong battle.

Munster dug their heels in defensively, though, and Craig Casey and Beirne wrapped up George Horne for a key turnover before Loughman’s replacement, Josh Wycherley, got the decision this time at a scrum to win back hard-earned territory.

Defences were still on top early in the final quarter. Nash unfortunately added to the province’s injury list, prompting Fekitoa’s return to the pitch, Crowley’s move to full-back and a switch to the wing for Mike Haley.

A couple of phases after the resulting scrum, Glasgow got on the board. McDowall’s pass evaded Beirne, who went close to intercepting it, and replacement Huw Jones broke into space before sending Steyn over in the left corner.

The missed conversion from McDowall left nine points in it with 12 minutes remaining. Player-of-the-match Gavin Coombes and the tireless John Hodnett led Munster’s response, gaining some vital yards with their carries.

McDowall coughed up a five-metre scrum after a loose pass from Tuipulotu, who ended the game in the sin bin due to a high tackle on Fekitoa. Munster missed out on a late try to cap it off, with Loughman held up over the line.

Asked afterwards about what was the difference between the teams, head coach Rowntree said: “I thought the breakdown. Our contact was much better tonight. It’s certainly something we’ve put a massive emphasis on the last few weeks, certainly since these guys beat us at Thomond Park six weeks ago.

“That contact area, we had to be better and I thought our defence tonight was pretty good overall. They kept challenging us, they kept going to the corner early on.

“It was a big physical statement keeping them out and I was delighted with that. The caveat to that is there’s still a load that we can do better.

“We were quite frustrated at the end of the game in the coaches’ box because there’s so much we could have done better, stuff that we can control ourselves.”

On their upcoming duel with Leinster, he added: “It’s always a challenge anyway, isn’t it? You play against them (Leinster), they’ve got some form.

“They’ve used a lot of players themselves, we’ll see what the next couple of days bring, see what team we can put out on the park and then we’ll go up there and we’ll go for it.”