Munster Mark Carbery’s Return With Hard-Fought Victory

Munster finished strongly to seal a valuable 20-11 win away to Cardiff Blues, as they kept hold of a nine-point lead at the top of the Guinness PRO14’s Conference B.

It was a gritty victory over a Cardiff side that were excellent at the breakdown all night – flanker Ellis Jenkins earned the Guinness player-of-the-match award – but Munster’s match-winning nous shone through in the end.

Forwards Jean Kleyn and Niall Scannell were the Munster try scorers, with out-half JJ Hanrahan setting up Kleyn’s score and kicking eight points from the tee.

In his post-match interview, Munster head coach Johann van Graan said: “It was a really tough game of rugby, it always is when you come down to Cardiff. I’m really happy with the win, but it was not our best performance of the season.

“I felt we created a few opportunities, but they made life very difficult for us at the breakdown. I’m happy with our win record away from home.

“I certainly think our accuracy could have been better. We actually played some pretty decent rugby and spent a lot of time on their try-line but then conceded quite a few turnovers and penalties.

“We took two chances and I was really happy with the last maul where we mauled for 20 metres to score. Joey (Carbery) kicked the conversion so I’m very happy with the win.”

Carbery made his eagerly-waited return as a replacement centre, in what was his first appearance in Munster red since January 2020.

“It was great to see Joey back on the pitch,” admitted van Graan. “I said to him before the game to go out there and enjoy it. He took a big hit when he came on which got him into the game straight away.

“He had a few nice passes and a good penalty to touch. I was really pleased for him and the team that he got that conversion from the sideline to put us out of sight. He’s a class player.

“We’ll just give him some more minutes and take our time because he’s been out for a long time. We’re certainly not going to rush him and we’ll manage him well.”

Munster played some inventive rugby during the opening quarter, but the Cardiff defence had all the answers with the hosts coming up trumps on each occasion that the visitors reached their 22.

Great work from Jack O’Donoghue halted an early Cardiff attack after scrum half Jamie Hill intercepted and kicked in behind. The flanker did brilliantly to race back and collect the ball before handing off a defender and kicking clear.

Calvin Nash was next to come up with an important defensive intervention as he brought down Aled Summerhill after a slick Blues move.

However, Seb Davies grabbed an opening 11th-minute try when he collected a flat pass to run through and score. Ben Thomas’ conversion struck the post and Cardiff led 5-0.

Cardiff were rocked by Davies’ sin-binning, six minutes later, for a dangerous entry into the ruck to clear out Shane Daly.

Nick McCarthy, James Cronin, Kevin O’Byrne and Jack O’Sullivan all carried well as Munster launched a promising attack. A Cardiff offside was duly punished by Hanrahan’s first penalty, 27 minutes in.

A Thomas penalty increased the Cardiff lead but Hanrahan hit back with his second penalty just before the break to cut the margin to two points – 8-6.

The Munstermen won a big scrum penalty, two minutes after the restart. Nonetheless, Hanrahan hit the post from a long way out on the right and Hill did well to gather and escape from the in-goal area.

Fineen Wycherley won a big turnover for Munster following the next Cardiff attack, as the lock made up for his poor initial pass that had given Cardiff possession.

Industrious number 8 O’Sullivan was then pinged for not releasing as he went for the jackal and Thomas was able to kick Cardiff into an 11-6 lead, with half-an-hour remaining.

Munster’s response was a swift one, a clinical finish coming at the end of a well-crafted attack. Hanrahan regathered his own chip kick and replacements Liam O’Connor and Roman Salanoa both got on the ball before Kleyn powered over.

The Cardiff jackal proved effective once again as they won a penalty on halfway shortly after. Thomas’ strike was short but Cardiff were awarded a five-metre scrum as Munster were offside on the clearance kick.

Fantastic work from the province’s scrum won the penalty, only for hands in the ruck from the otherwise-impressive Chris Cloete to give Thomas another place-kicking opportunity. To the flanker’s relief, the penalty attempt struck the post.

With the scoreboard showing 13-11, the game was in the balance going into the final 10 minutes. Vital turnovers from Cloete and replacement Gavin Coombes, along with another important scrum penalty kept Munster in control.

Supplying the killer blow, the visitors marched an outstanding lineout maul over the line from 20 metres out with Scannell crashing over. Fellow replacement Carbery drained the touchline conversion for good measure.