CONNACHT CAN’T HOLD BACK RED TIDE
AFTER three home derby wins, where light work was made of understrength visitors in front of sold out holiday crowds in Belfast, Limerick and Dublin, last night saw this impressive away-day heist.
Weakened Munster overcame a troubled scrum, the concession of 15 penalties and 11 changes in personnel from the Stephen’s Day win over Leinster to sucker-punch Connacht in their own backyard with just 38 per cent possession.
It was a classic raid, the visitors’ more intelligent use of the greasy ball gaining the decisive edge amid terrible winter weather which again highlighted the ongoing inadequacies of this Galway venue as an outdoor spectator facility when the rain pours and the wind howls.
For the bones of an hour it appeared as if we could be in for a repeat of the weather-affected tryless wonders from way back in 2004, Munster winning at Connacht 3-0 at the top of that year and again at Christmas.
But with teams deadlocked at 6all, Rhys Marshall’s converted try on 57 minutes suddenly opened a gaping gap that was added to by Ian Keatley’s drop goal a dozen minutes later and while Dave Kilcoyne’s yellow card, Jack Carty’s penalty and then a further yellow for Duncan Williams with the clock in the red made the denouement interesting, there was to no denying Rassie Erasmus’s league leaders a 10th win in 12 outings.
Connacht had been the only province to keep festive period alterations to a minimum. However, while on paper their XV appeared stronger, they didn’t possess the craft or guile to take full advantage and the losing bonus point won’t do much for their hopes of a top-six finish, never mind making the top four to keep alive their bid to retain the Pro12 title.
They head to Ospreys next weekend 11 points off sixth spot, 15 off fourth, and they will have spent the final moments of 2016 reflecting ruefully on how they failed to turn copious possession and territory into points, their malfunctioning lineout undoing the advantage they held at the scrum.
Smashed on their last Sportsground visit, Munster enjoyed the better start, fourth-minute penalty points for Keatley opening their account after Tiernan O’Halloran was caught at the bottom of a ruck.
A 27-minute scoreless gap then followed, stop-start exchanges eventually culminating in Carty landing his second penalty attempt off a scrum infringement 12 minutes after he missed to the left from similar distance on the 10metre line.
Parity was deserved, but Connacht, playing with the elements in their first-half favour, were left ruing a succession of ifs, buts and maybes which nudged the interval turnover count to 10-5 against them.
One regret was the blockdown by Denis Buckley on Williams which was kicked through by Kieran Marmion and the scrumhalf very nearly caught Keatley dawdling behind his line, one of several frustrating near-misses which left them vulnerable to what occurred near the end of the half.
It was retribution of sorts for Munster whose scrum had been done earlier for collapsing and standing up. They got a handle on a set-piece on their own 10-metre line and when another infringement quickly followed a kick to touch, Keatley nailed the kick for a three-point lead at the break.
Having done so well against the wind and rain in curbing Connacht menace, the next challenge for Munster was to use these elements now favouring them in the second half. Concession of a scrum penalty suggested their set-piece reliability hadn’t been fully rectified while Keatley missed from distance with a penalty attempt less than four minutes in following an award at a ruck.
Munster’s scrum was the reason Connacht pulled level at 6-6 on 51 minutes, Marshall knocking on in a tackle on Carty to deny Andrew Conway a breakaway, but the visiting hooker was left smiling six minutes later, tacking on the back of a maul to grab the crucial try converted by Keatley.
The ambush was a 14-point swing as it stemmed from a situation where Connacht’s maul was pressing near the Munster line, an advance scuppered by Marshall snapping up an intercept from a Buckley pass.
Keatley then showed guts to cross-kick inside his 22 to find Conway and this break resulted in under-pressure Marmion conceding the try-creating lineout which left Pro12 leaders Munster looking the part heading to Paris next weekend for their Champions Cup match with Racing 92, their only injury concern being a late knock shipped by Tommy O’Donnell.