Reds fail to build on Conway brace as they suffer second-half shut-out
MUNSTER blew the opportunity to hit the top of their Guinness PRO14 conference as a Gareth Anscombe masterclass condemned them to a 37-13 defeat.
An Andrew Conway brace was not enough to prevent the visitors heading in behind at half-time after converted tries from Nick Williams and Tomos Williams.
Instead of fighting back, Munster were powerless to stop Halaholo from scoring, while Tomos Williams completed his double late on to add to Anscombe’s 17-point haul as Munster failed to score in the second half. The heavy defeat was made even worse by the fact the Blues had failed to win all three of their opening matches of the season.
Johann van Graan opted to change six of from the side who trounced the Ospreys at Irish Independent Park last time out, but his fresh XV was no weaker as CJ Stander was drafted in for his first appearance of the season.
Munster were handed an early reprieve after Owen Lane’s early try was wiped out for a block in the build-up, but they were not so lucky second time around as the Blues made early pressure count.
Halaholo carried hard off an attacking lineout and kept driving his legs until he was inches short of the line. Powerful No 8 Williams picked up and finished it off at the posts to give Anscombe an easy conversion for a 7-0 lead, before a quickfire brace from Conway put Munster in control. The flying wing had it all to do after O’Mahony stole the ball back on halfway, but Conway sprinted down the wing, chipped the ball and sprinted away from Anscombe to scoop up and score.
His second came less than three minutes later after Joey Carbery lit up the turf with a 60-metre run from his own 22. The out-half was dragged down but got back on his feet to send Conway over at the corner for a 10-7 lead. Carbery failed with his second conversion attempt, and Munster were made to pay.
Again it was Halaholo who sliced through in midfield and charged downfield before handing off to Tomos Williams who sprinted over. Unlike Carbery, Anscombe was on target to send the hosts into a 14-10 lead.
Carbery rediscovered his kicking radar to cut the gap to a single point at halftime with a long-range penalty, but the Blues raced out of the blocks to move clear again. Nick Williams proved his defensive prowess to earn a penalty at the breakdown which Anscombe fired downfield.
Halaholo showed the defence a clean pair of heels again, but this time went all the way to score at the corner.
Anscombe landed the touchline conversion and added a long-range penalty to take his side 11 points clear after 54 minutes.
It looked as if Munster were going to muscle their way back into the match when the pack camped on the Cardiff line, but some heroic defence forced Chris Cloete to hold on and concede a penalty.
Instead it was Munster who found themselves under their own posts following a scrum penalty, and Anscombe maintained his perfect record off the tee to kick Cardiff 30-13 in-front with nine minutes to play.
There was still time for it to get even worse for Van Graan as Tomos Williams sniped ever to score his second try of the game to secure a first bonus-point victory for Blues head coach John Mulvihill.
The lacklustre Munster performance was typified by their final fightback, when the ball was spilled five metres from the Blues’ line.
CARDIFF BLUES – M Morgan; O Lane (Tom Williams 79), W Halaholo (G Smith 79), R Lee-Lo, J Harries; G Anscombe, Tomos Williams (L Williams 79); R Gill (R Carre 73), K Dacey (K Myhill 73), D Arhip (S Andrews 69), G Earle (Cook 25), J Turnbull, J Navidi (O Robinson 61), E Jenkins (capt), N Williams (O Robinson 17-30).
MUNSTER – JJ Hanrahan; A Conway, J Taute (S Daly 61), R Scannell, D Sweetnam; J Carbery, D Williams; J Cronin (D Kilcoyne 53), M Sherry (D Barron 74), S Archer (B Scott 75); J Kleyn (D O’Shea 75), T Beirne; P O’Mahony (capt), C Cloete, CJ Stander (T O’Donnell 65).
REF – Q Immelman (SARU)