French giants no match for runaway Red Army
MUNSTER marched into their 12th European Cup semi-final and if their victory wasn’t quite as emphatic as the score line might suggest, they still look well capable of winning this year’s tournament.
Depending on today’s results they will either play Saracens at the Aviva or Glasgow at Murrayfield. On current form they will fear neither.
Two very late tries at Thomond yesterday put a slightly artificial gloss on their performance but in truth Munster, despite the late withdrawal off Conor Murray and the departure to injury in the second half of Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander, controlled the game from start to finish.
It seemed all Munster in the first half yet somehow they turned around only 13-9 ahead which might have concerned a less confident team.
The game started explosively with a yellow card in the first minute when big Toulouse No.8 Francois Cros left Duncan Williams, a late replacement for Murray, sprawling with an elbow-first challenge into the sternum after the scrum-half had completed a clearance kick.
It was a needless challenge and Munster made Toulouse pay dearly by scoring ten points while they were shorthanded.
First prop John Ryan burst through from close range after good pressure for Tyler Bleyendaal to add an easy conversion and then a few moments later the Kiwi fly-half was on target with a short range penalty to extend the lead.
Munster looked very threatening but Toulouse were at least up for a fight and kept contesting every ball and gradually they inched their way back into the game.
Jean Marc Doussain picked himself up from a high tackle from O’Mahony to open the Toulouse account and although Bleyendaal restored Munand ster’s advantage Toulouse kept plugging away.
Doussain added a second penalty but Toulouse were forced to defend desperately as Munster upped the tempo before half-time. At one stage Bleyendaal touched down but after a long TMO debate the try was disallowed for a small but clear-cut knock on from Tommy O’Donnell.
That would have been 20-6 and Toulouse immediately cashed on their good fortune – and in fairness good defence – by going downfield forcing a penalty which Doussain stroked home from distance.
Munster lost no time going to work after the break with another brace of Bleyendaal penalties and a short range try for Stander even if the latter score did see O’Mahoney depart after damaging his shoulder clearing out a ruck.
The visitors did briefly raise a head of steam and although there seemed an obvious forward pass leading to a try for Paul Perez, Toulouse were worth a score and Munster lost concentration for a short period.
At 24-16 it was a timely reminder that there was still work to do and Toulouse missed a trick by going for the corner when they had a very kickable penalty to make it 24-19.
The moment of danger passed and Munster finished like a steam train with a try for the deserving Darren Sweetnam and then a fourth right at the death for replacement wing Andrew Conway. Job done.