Munster Slip From Summit Following Llanelli Loss

Slipping from the summit of Conference A, Munster were left to rue a number of spilled balls in difficult wet conditions in Llanelli where the Scarlets owed their 10-6 victory to an immense defensive display.

Glasgow Warriors have leapfrogged Munster into first place – they are split by three points – after the province were held try-less at Parc y Scarlets. Bill Johnston kicked two first half penalties with Leigh Halfpenny converting Ioan Nicholas’ 11th-minute try and adding a penalty with half an hour remaining.

Despite their first defeat of 2019, Johann van Graan’s men can still take plenty of positives from their performances since the turn of the year. As well as qualifying for the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup, they have won four PRO14 games – including successful trips to Galway, Newport and Swansea – during the January to March period.

Also maintaining a positive outlook was South African van Graan, who said afterwards: “The conditions were very tough. I thought we did a lot of good stuff in that game and it’s very frustrating not to score those tries. We were literally half a metre away twice and we also had a disallowed try (from Jean Kleyn).

“They were big moments in the game, but all credit to the Scarlets and their defence. I thought they defended very well and their try was also a call by the TMO – but (it was) a brilliant offload. That was the difference in the game. We did enough to win it, but credit to the Scarlets. We are still in a brilliant place.

“We want to win every single game we play, but to come to Wales two weeks in a row in difficult conditions is very tough. We managed to pull off a win against the Ospreys last week and this time we were one decision away from making it two in-a-row.

“We’ve got a confident group of players in our squad and the internationals will come back now for the game with Zebre after the Six Nations and then it’s a European Cup quarter-final with Edinburgh. We have so much to look forward to. The guys are disappointed here because we felt we did enough to win the game. We just need to learn to finish off our opportunities.”

The Munstermen could not turn their dominance of first half possession into points, too often letting the Scarlets off the hook with unforced errors. Rhys Marshall caught the ball off a Scarlets overthrow but he was stopped just short of the try-line and possession was knocked on in the following phases.

The Munster pack had their homework done on the opposition set piece and secured a fourth-minute penalty in front of the posts, which young out-half Johnston fired over for 3-0. However, Wales star Halfpenny was quick to make his own mark on the game with a strong run, collecting a high ball near halfway and taking advantage of some poor tackling.

Halfpenny made it up towards the Munster 22 and the Scarlets used the field position in clinical fashion, their forwards sucking in the defence before Johnny McNicholl’s terrific flicked offload sending Nicholas in from the left wing for a well-worked try, with captain Kieron Fonotia also free outside him if he needed him.

Moving into the second quarter Munster were camped inside the Scarlets 22 building phases while keeping the ball in tight in difficult conditions but a superb defensive effort from the home side saw them clear their line and relieve the pressure.

Van Graan’s charges continued to dominate the possession and territory but time and time again the Scarlets defensive effort held firm. Munster were awarded a penalty for a Scarlets offside in the final minute of the opening half and a great strike from Johnston reduced the Scarlets lead to a point.

The hosts restored the four-point lead with an early second half penalty from Halfpenny after a Munster infringement under the posts.

The pack, led by captain Billy Holland, went on to secure a scrum penalty inside the Scarlets 22 on the 59th minute and opted to go for the corner. Jean Kleyn crossed the whitewash off the rolling maul but the TMO ruled the score out and Scarlets were awarded the penalty.

Both sides continued to battle it out in awful conditions with Munster unable to close out opportunities with handling errors playing their part. The chances were on offer but failing to execute when close to the line proved costly and a scoreless second half saw Munster come away from Parc y Scarlets with a losing bonus point.