Murray controversy mars Munster victory
Matches between these two old rivals are invariably intense, brutal affairs that go down to the wire, and this relentless European tie followed that script perfectly. Seventy minutes of attritional trench warfare were followed by 10 minutes of pyrotechnics in which Glasgow blinked first as Francis Saili scored a fine try to seal Munster’s quarter-final spot.
It was not without cost though: Conor Murray appeared to have been knocked out cold when he tackled Tim Swinson, only to reappear after a head injury assessment. In the wake of the George North controversy, Munster are sure to face difficult questions over that decision.
Glasgow, for their part, travel to Leicester knowing that they must win in the bearpit of Welford Road to have any chance of progressing to the Champions Cup knockout stages for the first time in the club’s history.
“The players are hugely disappointed because they put a lot of effort into the game,” said Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend.
“We knew how important this game was for us, and for the club as a whole, so to lose it in the last seven minutes was even more disappointing, but the better team won.”
Glasgow held the whip hand for most of the game but were never quite able to shake Munster off. Finn Russell landed three penalties only for Tyler Bleyendaal to respond for the visitors, but Stuart Hogg’s long-range effort gave Glasgow a lead they were to hold until late on.
Munster took their chance superbly. With Hogg in the sin-bin after catching Andrew Conway high the visitors flung it wide to Simon Zebo.
He was hauled down but offloaded to Keith Earls, who cut infield and popped a lovely pass to Saili to score the vital try.