Penalty Shootout Heartbreak Ends Munster’s European Run

Munster’s young guns gave it their all in an extraordinary Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final, but Toulouse held their nerve to win an unbearably tense penalty shootout 4-2 at the Aviva Stadium.

The reigning champions, who fought back to level the game at 24-all and send it to extra-time, will face a return semi-final trip to Dublin to face Leinster after an unerring shootout display.

Antoine Dupont split the posts twice for Toulouse, including a key strike from the 10-metre line, with Thomas Ramos and Romain Ntamack also on target.

Conor Murray and Joey Carbery had successful penalties, but misses from Ben Healy (two from the right) and Murray, from straight in front 40 metres out, saw Munster’s European campaign end in devastating fashion.

The teams, resembling two punch-drunk heavyweights at times, could not be split during an exhaustive 100 minutes of rugby. Young replacement Healy missed a last-gasp 56-metre penalty at the end of normal time.

It was 14 points apiece after the opening 40 minutes, Alex Kendellen and Keith Earls crossing for the hosts with Romain Ntamack and Matthis Lebel landing converted tries for Toulouse.

A Mike Haley try and Joey Carbery’s lone penalty drove Munster ahead, but the loss of captain Peter O’Mahony to a shoulder injury after 63 minutes was keenly felt.

O’Mahony produced one of his best performances on the European stage, his leadership shining through as he forced some important turnovers at the breakdown and pressurised the visitors’ lineout across the first hour.

With a dominant scrum, Toulouse hit back with a strong finish as the pacy Lebel completed his brace and Ramos equalised with a 75th-minute penalty.

Both Healy and Ramos slid drop goal attempts wide during extra-time, as this absorbing quarter-final clash brought back memories of that historic Cardiff and Leicester Tigers’ penalty shootout from 2009.

It was an incredible effort from Munster, coming up against a bulldozing Toulouse pack full of power and experience. The result will sting for a long time, but the province’s young players put it up to the title holders.

The Munstermen ended this exhaustive encounter with a number of youngsters on the field – Healy (22), Craig Casey (23), Diarmuid Barron (22), Thomas Ahern (22), Jack Daly (23) and Kendellen (21) – and they looked right at home in the Dublin knockout cauldron.

Thomond Park, Musgrave Park and more were on tour for the day, the Reds out in force in a partisan 40,476-strong crowd. A classic European Cup encounter ensued.

The typically helter-skelter start saw Munster strike first in the ninth minute, showing some nice variation off a lineout before impressive flanker Kendellen bounced off Dorian Aldegheri to ground the ball.

Firing back quickly, Pierre Fouyssac’s surge through had the French giants knocking on the door. Ntamack seized a pass at the second attempt – having knocked it backwards initially and got a fortunate bounce – to score to the right of the posts.

Only some excellent maul defence prevented Toulouse from driving through for a second score, with O’Mahony, Josh Wycherley and Jean Kleyn leading the resistance.

Nonetheless, with Toulouse’s piledriving scrum forcing penalties, Ntamack’s loop play set up a 25th-minute run-in for winger Lebel. Ramos, who supplied the assist, converted again for a 14-7 lead.

With the interval within reach, Chris Farrell flicked a pass back for Carbery to loft it wide for Earls to finish off. Having missed an earlier penalty, Carbery nailed the difficult conversion.

Despite a second penalty miss from Carbery, Simon Zebo’s aerial brilliance was matched by a break from Farrell. He sent full-back Haley over for a well-taken converted try despite Francois Cros’ last-ditch tackle.

Toulouse lock Rory Arnold was then sin-binned for a dangerous dump tackle on Zebo, before Carbery used a subsequent penalty to make it 24-14 in the 57th minute.

Despite superb turnovers from O’Mahony and Munster replacement Jason Jenkins, Lebel scampered through from 40 metres out thanks to replacement Peato Mauvaka’s inviting inside pass.

Ramos converted and Munster’s lead was erased soon after, as a scrum penalty delivered three more points. Healy, who came on at out-half with Carbery moving to full-back, had a shot at glory past the 80-minute mark, sending a monster kick just wide.

Extra-time was evenly balanced – Healy was agonisingly close with a late drop goal shot that was on target before falling away – but heartbreak awaited Munster in the shootout.

On-field skipper Jack O’Donoghue won the toss and elected for Munster to kick first. Unfortunately Healy missed at 1-1, Murray was away to the left at 3-2 before Dupont nailed his long-range kick. Healy’s second miss confirmed Toulouse’s place in the last-four.

Giving his reaction afterwards, Munster head coach Johann van Graan said: “Firstly, I’m incredibly proud. Today was what Munster Rugby is about. To lose it like that, that’s unfortunately sport. That’s the way the rules are. Somebody’s got to kick it over and somebody’s got to miss.

“If ever there’s a day to sum up Munster Rugby, it’s today. A community of 40,000 people travelling. Everybody associated with Munster Rugby will be incredibly proud of the 23 guys that stood up and fought today.

“Whether it was Earlsy (Keith Earls) who had a phenomenal few weeks at his age, or Kendellen or Thomas (Ahern), I’m incredibly proud of them. We’re incredibly proud to coach players like that and for them to experience things like this.

“The man on the street never experiences what these 23 men went through today and they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives. One kick is the difference and I am proud of them.”

Having come away from previous European defeats with a feeling of frustration, Munster hooker Niall Scannell acknowledged he was experiencing a different emotion in the aftermath of this knockout clash.

“My overwhelming feeling at the moment, and it might change as the days go by, is that we’ve been in these scenarios before and I felt like we just didn’t really fire a shot. We just didn’t really give it a proper go,” he said.

“Whereas I think we played some unbelievable rugby out there against what is obviously an incredible side and we left it all out there.

“It literally came down to the finest margins. From our point of view, there’s maybe a bit of an element of satisfaction in the performance. That we haven’t had when we’ve come out on the wrong side of those results before.”