A MISERABLE NIGHT IN LIMERICK
Worrying signs as Munster fall flat against 14-man Saints
PETER O’MAHONY’S expression on the touchline said it all – despite Munster scraping through to the last 16 of the Champions Cup. The Munster stalwart had been replaced before the final quarter of this manic, controversy-filled and full-blooded contest at Thomond Park.
And O’Mahony, in a week in which he was appointed as Ireland’s new captain, could only watch on as a 14man Northampton side strangled his team in the final stages and ground out a famous away win.
Where to begin? After Gavin Coombes had crashed over the line early in the second half, the hosts looked totally in control. They had a numerical advantage and when the rain begin to pour down, it seemed like a matter of when, not if, they would secure the try bonus and another big scalp.
Northampton had other ideas. In Courtney Lawes, they had the old warhorse who delivered a typically robust performance for a pack which had the upper hand. In young out-half Fin Smith, they had a nerveless kicker who added to his growing reputation.
Many of Munster’s problems were self inflicted. Injuries and a lack of depth up up front cost them again. When Tom Ahern was forced off after that sickening blow to the head in the first half, Brian Gleeson entered the fray, meaning Gavin Coombes was forced to do another emergency shift at lock. When O’Mahony went off, Alex Kendellen was drafted into the action. It meant that Munster had just one recognised lineout jumper in Tadhg Beirne when they went chasing the game late on.
Their lack of heavy duty reinforcements in the front row cost them again. Josh Wycherley, Eoghan Clarke – who arrived from Jersey Reds – and John Ryan couldn’t match the power of the Northampton heavies.
Once again, their maul defence cost them. The video review of replacement flanker Sam Graham’s try off the back of a driving maul will be grim viewing on Monday morning.
The scenes of shock amongst the Munster players after the game was palpable.
Because three minutes of madness had seemingly cost the Saints a big win here. For most of an attritional first-half, they had the upper hand.
Their scrum-half Alex Mitchell, England’s breakout star at the World Cup, had slalomed his way through the Munster defence for a superb individual try.
The visitors were playing like a team who pitched up in Limerick unbeaten in the pool stages, top of the English Premiership standings and who had seven players recently called up for national duty. Organised, efficient and abrasive, they are a team on the rise. The Saints were here for a big scalp, make no mistake about it.
The tipping point, literally, occurred in the 36th minute. In the space of 180 seconds, they had a player in the sin-bin and another sent off.
The skipper George Furbank got his timing all wrong when he tried to halt the progress of a flying Calvin Nash. Ten minutes in the sin-bin felt like the right call.
What exactly Curtis Langdon was thinking a few minutes later is anyone’s guess, however. The Northampton hooker caught Ahern with two knees to the face as he cleared out a ruck. The first was clumsy. The second looked dodgy. Referee Tual Trainini was soon fishing out a red card from his back pocket.
Antoine Frisch and Peter O’Mahony both breached the Saints try-line in the meantime. The complexion of the game changed in an instant. Munster were 15-7 to the good at the break. When the rain begin to swirl around Thomond Park, it felt like a long way back for Northampton.
And when Coombes ploughed his way over the line early in the second half, Munster were seemingly on course for a big home win and a nice seeding in the knockout stages.
The home side would then lose their way, in a big way. There were many perplexing moments as all sense of composure seeped out of the Munster ranks. Craig Casey and Jack Crowley had put in big shifts in difficult circumstances. Not an easy night for half-backs when your pack is feeling the heat, the conditions are atrocious and you’re trying to make things happen off slow, messy ball. The pair almost steered Munster through a horrible night.
It was fitting the two combined to engineer a turnover penalty on the our mark. You would have bet the mortgage on Crowley plugging the corner and the Munster pack going in search of a try bonus. No dice. Crowley was instructed to take the points. It seemed an odd call. The Munster out-half tacked over three points. Another sign of the jitteriness in the Munster ranks.
It almost invited Northampton back into the game. And the visitors didn’t need a second invitation. They had all the momentum and in Lawes, Mitchell and Smith, they had the three dominant characters in the game. There was almost a sense of inevitability long before the Munster dam broke in the final stages.
The losing bonus point proved crucial and it was just enough to see Munster sneak through in the last16. Graham Rowntree’s men will be on the road again after the Six Nations. The break will do them no harm. Because it will take a while to digest what transpired last night.
The charge to the exits at the final whistle said it all. A miserable end to a miserable evening for Munster.
MUNSTER: S Zebo (S O’Brien 44); C Nash, A Frisch, A Nankivell (J Carbery 77), S Daly; J Crowley, C Casey (P Patterson ); J Loughman (J Wycherley 68), N Scannell (E Clarke 68), O Jager (J Ryan 50); T Ahern (B Glesson 40), T Beirne (capt); P O’Mahony (A Kendellen 66), J Hodnett, G Coombes. Scorers: Tries – Frisch, O’Mahony, Coombes; Cons – Crowley; Pens – Crowley (2).
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS: G Furbank (capt); T Freeman, F Dingwall, R Hutchinson, O Sleightholme (R Smith 46); F Smith, A Mitchell; A Waller (E Iyogun 58), C Langdon, T Davison (E Millar-Mills 53); T Mayanavaua (A Moon 58), A Coles; C Lawes, T Pearson, J Augustus (S Graham 49). Scorers: Tries – Mitchell, Graham; Cons – Smith (2); Pens – Smith (3); Drop goal – Smith. Yellow card: Furbank 37. Red card: Langdon 39.
REFEREE: T Trainini (France).