Can Sarries do it for England in Leinster?
As if Munster do not already have enough storied moments in their history, there is now another to be remembered for generations as Andrew Conway’s sensational solo try with four minutes left won a dramatic Champions Cup quarter-final against Toulon.
With Munster trailing by six, hope was starting to recede when Francois Trinh-Duc kicked to touch from within his own 22. Had the France fly-half made it, that might have been game over, but Conway, on his tiptoes, judged the flight perfectly and grabbed the ball above his head.
Wing Josua Tusiova had come up infield anticipating a quick line-out, allowing Conway to set off diagonally. Toulon’s kick-chase was ragged and Conway, gathering speed, straightened past Trinh-Duc and Raphael Lakafia. The Thomond Park roar was deafening as he cut against the grain past Malakai Fekitoa’s despairing tackle and under the posts. Cue bedlam in the stands and barely any less restraint on the field.
There were still three minutes to see out, and as the clock went red, Toulon were hammering through away inside Munster’s half. After at least 20 phases, Chris Ashton was pinged for not releasing by referee Nigel Owens to bring a riveting contest to an end.
“It is incredible what we did,” Johann van Graan, the Munster coach said. “They really put their bodies on the line. The Munster magic came through today.”
Conway’s score overshadowed the influence of a man who was not even on the pitch, television match official Jon Mason. Technology, we were promised, would make the game infinitely better. More correct decisions would be made in a quick, seamless manner. Here, we found overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Inside the first minute, Eric Escande kicked behind the Munster lines. Chris Ashton, who has broken all manner of try-scoring records in his debut season, looked set to catch the ball in the in-goal area only for Simon Zebo to come across and seemingly punch the ball from his grasp. It looked a clear penalty try and probable yellow card only for Owens and Mason to award a scrum instead.
Toulon also have every right to feel aggrieved with Munster’s opening try.
This time it was an Ian Keatley grubber that sparked a madcap period. Conway got there first but was scragged and the ball came out on Toulon’s side of the ruck. As Toulon prepared to clear their lines, there was the slightest hint of a knock-on, which was all the invitation scrum half Conor Murray needed to steal in and ground the ball.
That the score needed adjudication was not in doubt, but when it takes at least three minutes, then the trade-off between getting the right decision and killing the game’s flow is way out of kilter. When the first half lasts 56 minutes, there is a serious problem.
Toulon will be smarting. They dominated at least 40 minutes of this contest. In Dave Attwood, the English lock on loan from Bath, they may well have had the game’s outstanding player. Yet they could not quite match the indefatigable spirit of a Munster side ravaged by injuries.
The centre pairing of Sam Arnold and Rory Scannell bottled up their far more celebrated opposite numbers Mathieu Bastareaud and Ma’a Nonu. Back-rower Jack O’Donoghue was a revelation and captain Peter O’Mahony made a mess of Toulon’s line-out.
Toulon will rightly point to the decisions that did not go their way, but all too often they were their own worst enemies, with wings Tuisova and Semi Radradra butchering simple chances.
The three-time champions did take a take a 6-0 lead through a penalty and a drop goal (that dying species) by Anthony Belleau, but that was scant reward for their early dominance.
They were made to pay through Murray’s opportunism. Ian Keatley converted and added a penalty to put Munster into a 10-6 halftime lead.
Munster are one of those teams who can make a four-point lead seem like 40 points as they controlled the opening period of the second half.
The replacement front row made an instant impact, winning a scrum penalty that was celebrated like a try, Keatley kicking to make it 13-6.
Toulon, however, were far from finished. Semi Radradra failed to take a glorious chance when he knocked on in reaching for the tryline before replacement Trinh-Duc then reduced the gap back to four points with a penalty.
Trinh-Duc, so often maligned, timed his pass superbly to put Bastareaud away and he found Ashton on his shoulder to give Toulon the lead. When Trinh-Duc struck another penalty, that could have been it, but the fly half proved why he attracts such suspicion by failing to find touch, and Conway did the rest.