PURE AGONY
Munster’s dreams dashed by champions following penalty shoot-out
DRAMA and dejection for Munster in Dublin was followed by a lethal Leinster performance in Leicester on a day of wildly contrasting emotions for the Irish provinces.
While Leo Cullen’s side strode into the semi-finals with a 23-14 thumping of the Tigers on their feared Welford Road home patch, Munster’s European dreams were shattered by Toulouse after a dramatic penalty shootout at the Aviva Stadium.
Johann van Graan’s side looked on course for the last four after a battling performance at Ireland HQ. But the five-time champions staged a finalquarter fightback, overturning a 10point deficit, before winning a dramatic kicking competition after extra-time.
Toulouse will return to Dublin next weekend to take on Leinster, who produced a dominant display in Welford Road to ensure their progress into the next phase.
A repeat of the 2009 Heineken Cup
semi-final epic between Munster and Leinster was not to be as the Reds – who were roared on by 40,476 fans in the capital – failed to land the killer blow against the defending champions. Both sides could not be separated after battling themselves to a standstill after 100 pulsating minutes of action, with the French giants edging the subsequent kicking duel 4-2 as Conor Murray and Ben Healy (twice) missed the target.
But a visibly emotional Van Graan had nothing but praise for his troops after their heart-breaking defeat.
‘Firstly, I’m incredibly proud,’ said the Munster head coach, who is leaving his post in the summer.
‘Today was what Munster rugby is about. To lose it like that, that’s unfortunately sport, that’s the way the rules are. Somebody’s got to kick it over and somebody’s got to miss.
‘If ever there’s a day to sum up Munster rugby, it’s today. A community of 40,000 people travelling. It was certainly one of the best rugby games I’ve been involved with.
‘I said to my wife there from a feeling point of view, this was like the World Cup semi-final in 2015 that I was involved with that we (South Africa) lost 20-18 against the All Blacks. That feeling that we gave it all we’ve got, the players gave it all they’ve got. Management, staff, the people of Munster gave it all they’ve got.
‘We’ve got to know that this is a game. Everybody associated with Munster rugby will be incredibly proud of the 23 guys that stood up and fought today.
‘We left the hotel saying, “to the brave and faithful, nothing is impossible”, and I think the way that our captain Peter O’Mahony played, literally when his body couldn’t any more, then Jack Daly coming on to make his European debut in that cauldron, the incredible thing about rugby is it gives you opportunity to experience things like what happened today.
‘The tough thing is, great game of rugby, could have won it in the final play of the game, had one or two opportunities, but it’s gone now. The sun will come up tomorrow morning.’
Leinster, meanwhile, took a step closer to securing a first European title since 2018 with a statement win on Leicester soil and Jamison GibsonPark produced a masterful performance for the visitors.
New Zealand-born Gibson-Park is now looking forward to meeting the reigning champions for a place in the decider, saying: ‘Toulouse are an unbelievable team, they went to Ireland and beat Munster today. We will take it a day at a time.’