REDS ARE RUN OUT OF EUROPE
Heads on guillotine as hapless Munster go out meekly
THIS was truly dreadful. Munster’s European legacy had been built on giddy stories of tumultuous away wins, epic days of mirth and magic on foreign shores, afternoons where their famed streetwise brand of rugby tied opposition up in knots and left their hosts flailing.
But such exploits can be considered ancient history. Anthony Foley’s average bunch again tumbled out of the Champions Cup at the pool stage for the second successive year following a third successive defeat in this miserable winter. Focus will once again turn to recent speculation last month that the coach had already secured a one-year extension to his two-year term which is due to expire in summer.
Given this awfully tame surrender, it will have been premature at best following a defeat far worse than last January’s rout at Saracens.
They’d fired blanks in a withering cup and league run of five defeats that was halted last weekend in Belfast. But the bad habits returned with a vengeance.
The fact that they had neither the craft nor guile to make use of the numerical advantage when Stade were forced to play the entire second half a man short, simply made it worse. (Winger Josaia Raisuqe had been red-carded for having his fingers in CJ Stander’s eyes during an altercation just before half time.)
Munster, however, couldn’t get their hands on enough ball to exploit the extra space. With their scrum in particular falling into disrepair and replacement John Ryan struggling at tighthead, it looked at times as if the hosts had the extra man. Their 10-point interval advantage was transformed into a 27-point rout before Munster grabbed a consolation try at the death.
Foley’s chastened charges will point to the misfortune of seeing a Francis Saili pass to Rory Scannell drifting forward on 61 minutes to scrub out a try in the corner when the margin was only 13 points and mathematically still manageable to reel in. But the sad reality was that Munster were outclassed and the final whistle couldn’t come soon enough to put them out of their misery.
There were 33 minutes gone of a scoreless first-half when they irrevocably lost their bearings, Waisea Nayacalevu and Sergio Parisse making hay from lineout possession and then, a couple of phases later in the 22, Paul Williams arced a lovely line through the despairing clutches of Dave Foley and Dave Kilcoyne and sprinted in under the posts for the stalemate-ending score that was converted by Morne Steyn.
The Stade kicker soon made it two kicks from two, referee Nigel Owens penalising replacement Jack O’Donoghue for detaching from the scrum, but that 10-point interval lead wasn’t without a late sting for the Parisians.
Munster had a penalty coming as Conor Murray was illegally messed with at a ruck, but Owens wanted a TMO review of the sideline bust-up between Raisuqe and Stander earlier in the play. His decision was clinical: a red card.
The opportunity was there for the visitors to force their way back into the contest. But with the again outof-sorts Ian Keatley missing the penalty that followed Raisuqe’s expulsion, on the back of an earlier miss with the wind in his favour, they simply didn’t have the firepower to pull off a season-saving recovery.
So it proved. They needed to come out and dominate but they never got going. Their scrum was soon marching backwards, Robin Copeland needlessly conceding three points coming in at the side of a ruck and then Keatley’s restart failing to go the requisite 10, handing Stade another scrum that brought another penalty.
Steyn was wide with that effort and while the Munster set-piece fleetingly resolved with a penalty at the first scrum involving Ryan’s replacement Mario Sagario.
But the Scannell try mishap marked the end, Stade running in excellent tries from Sekou Macalou and Hugo Bonneval before Murray’s consolation.
The first half up until the Stade 10point breakthrough and the controversial red card that had the home supporters howling in derision was more a relegation bruiser than a cup final laced with drama, so low octane were the turnover-affected exchanges.
It never sparked during the opening half-hour, Stade’s determination to try and put some width on the ball not having enough precision to unlock the scrambling defence that kept itself from conceding despite some personnel dropping like flies and some loose play from Simon Zebo.
Andrew Conway and BJ Botha were both gone inside 11 minutes and while Tommy O’Donnell tried to carry on after passing a head injury assessment, he was forced to make his departure shortly after the opening score.
Their exits were a portent of the trouble that was to follow. Munster were beaten and beaten well, so much so that heads could well roll as a result. STADE FRANCAIS: H Bonneval (J Plisson, 73); J Arias (J Danty, 51), W Vuidarvuwalu, P Williams, J Raisuqe; M Steyn, J Dupuy (J Tomas, 71); Z Taulafo (H van der Merwe, 53), L Sempéré (L Panis, 48), P Alo Emile (R Slimani, 47), H Pyle, P Gabrillagues (G Mostert, 73), S Macalou, S Nicolas (J Ross, 71), S Parisse. Scorers – Tries: Williams (33), Macalou (67), Bonneval (72). Con: Steyn (34, 68, 73). Pens: Steyn (37, 55). Red card – Raisuqe (40+2) MUNSTER: A Conway (R O’Mahony, 9); K Earls, F Saili, R Scannell, S Zebo; I Keatley (D Hurley, 69), C Murray; D Kilcoyne, M Sherry (N Scannell, 68), BJ Botha (J Ryan, 11; M Saragio, 58), D Foley, M Chisholm (B Holland, 76), R Copeland, T O’Donnell (J O’Donoghue, 23-30, 36), CJ Stander. Scorers – Try: Murray (75). Con: R Scannell (76). REFEREE: N Owens (WRU).