Munster’s Strong Finish Earns Dramatic Draw With Racing

It was a tale of two out-halves tonight at Thomond Park where JJ Hanrahan kicked Munster to a dramatic 21-all draw with a Finn Russell-inspired Racing 92 side.

Hanrahan was ice cool when converting Andrew Conway’s 75th-minute try from the right touchline, but then snatched at a late drop goal attempt for the win.

Leading 14-11 at half-time thanks to two terrific scores from Russell and Teddy Thomas, Racing were on course to become the first French winners of a Heineken Champions Cup game in Limerick since Clermont Auvergne in December 2014.

Munster were briefly level thanks to Keith Earls’ late first-half try and Hanrahan’s third successful penalty, but despite a Juan Imhoff try opening up a seven-point gap, the hosts slammed it shut through Conway and Hanrahan.

The fourth and final Irish-French encounter of the weekend was evenly-balanced early on, with former Munster favourites Donnacha Ryan and Simon Zebo both impressing in Racing colours.

Munster were first on the board, Hanrahan’s ninth-minute penalty rewarding a jinking break from full-back Mike Haley. Yet, with Ryan proving a thorn in the side of Munster’s lineout, Racing laid down a few markers of their own. The biggest of them was Russell’s sensational 19th-minute try.

Armed with a penalty advantage, the 27-year-old stand-off brilliantly nutmegged Rory Scannell with a deft kick and picked up to score a converted try from a few metres out.

Hanrahan’s second penalty came on the back of a strong Munster scrum, but Thomas quickly sneaked through via his own chip kick to touch down and reward some fine build-up play by Teddy Iribaren, a late inclusion at scrum half, and Zebo.

Iribaren’s left boot pushed it out to 14-6 and Zebo foiled Hanrahan as Munster hunted down an elusive try. That score arrived just before the break, Earls nipping over in the corner past Zebo with eventual man-of-the-match Haley providing the assist.

Although Hanrahan was unable to convert, he nailed a 47th-minute penalty to make it 14-all. His opposite number Russell had other ideas and he expertly put Imhoff scything through just moments later.

Throwing a dummy, the Scotland star took advantage of a limping Jeremy Loughman to ghost through a gap and connect with the supporting Imhoff for another classy seven-pointer.

Haley breathed a sigh of relief when his penalty went unpunished by a rare Iribaren miss. For most of the final quarter, it was Munster dictating with their bench having a big say.

Having been stopped a few metres out previously, in-form winger Conway finished in the corner after plenty of grunt from the Munster pack and well-directed passes from influential replacement Alby Mathewson and Hanrahan.

The Kerry native stepped up to land the all-important conversion, and just as Munster appeared to be building for a smash-and-grab finish, Hanrahan pulled his drop goal shot away to the left of the posts.