BLOEM BLAST
Murray & Co blitz South Africans after early implosion
CONOR MURRAY was the hero as Munster ended their South African tour with a second win, coming from 14-0 down to secure a home quarter-final in the PRO14.
Murray scored a try straight after coming on to the pitch in Bloemfontein and then delivered the winner 14 minutes from time with a monster penalty from his own half.
Cheetahs had won four of their last five matches in the closing minutes and looked set to repeat the dose when they forced a succession of scrums inside the Munster 22 in the final 60 seconds.
But after two resets, the Reds won a penalty and claimed the win.
It sets them up perfectly for the Champions Cup semi-final clash with Racing 92 next weekend.
A heavy pitch after overnight rain, combined with the thin air in Highveld, ensured this was going to be a tough test for Munster and the task became even more difficult when they fell 14-0 behind after 28 minutes.
Fulll-back Clayton Blommetjies got the opening try on 11 Glasgow Munster Cheetahs Cardiff Blues Ospreys Connacht Zebre P 19 20 20 19 19 20 18 minutes and he then set up scrum-half Tian Meyer for their second after 28 minutes, just as Simon Zebo’s spell in the bin as coming to an end.
Johan Goosen, back for his first competitive game since walking out on Racing 92 in December 2016, landed both conversions as he chalks up some game time before his controversial summer move to
W 15 13 11 10 8 6 4
D 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
L F A 3 580 306 7 544 337 9 580 534 9 434 444 11 350 427 14 398 467 14 315 530
Pts 75 67 58 48 40 34 22 Leinster Scarlets Edinburgh Ulster
Treviso Dragons Southern Kings
P 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 Montpellier. Jack O’donoghue looked to have opened Munster’s account seven minutes from the break but the score did not count as Robin Copeland was adjudged to have knocked on in a scrum.
It took Murray less than half a minute to make a telling impact when he was introduced for the injured James Hart, skipping around a scrum to score.
JJ Hanrahan converted to cut the gap to seven but the Cheetahs led 17-7 at the break when Goosen W 14 13 13 11 10 2 1 D 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 L F A 4 576 310 5 481 305 6 418 342 7 478 443 9 381 414 15 338 605 18 346 755 Pts 69 65 59 55 50 18 11 landed a penalty from distance.
But it was all Munster in the second half and they took control from the restart.
Three Hanrahan penalties cut the gap to 17-16 after 62 minutes.
Then Murray edged them in front with a penalty from 51 metres four minutes later, the ball clearing the crossbar by at least ten metres.
All that had to be done then was survive the late onslaught but with Sammy Arnold, Gerbrandt Grobler and Jack O’donoghue leading the way, Johaan van Graan’s first visit back to his native South Africa could hardly have ended on a better note.