Munster March on with a win over Leicester

Ronan O’ Gara put Munster on the scoreboard inside two mintues with a well taken penalty goal from the half way line. Stimpson failed to capitalise on chances leaving Munster in the lead in the first half by a slim margin of 0-3.

A tense second half began with an O’ Gara penalty hitting off the posts. He made no mistake four minutes later giving Munster a six point advantage. Leicester had to wait a mere eight minutes, before Murphy found Steve Booth who went through the Munster defence to touch down Leicester’s only try of the game. Stimpson made up for earlier mistakes converting to put Leicester in the lead for the first time in the game, 7-6.

The Munster players kept the pressure on and were rewarded when outhalf O’ Gara survived a tackle on the line to get Munster’s first try. He converted to give the Irish team a lead they would never relinquish, 7-13.

An excellent series of passes saw Munster carry the ball from the half way line to put Stringer over for their second try of the game. O’ Gara was on form again to give his team a 13 point advantage going into the final stages.

Nine minutes of injury time were added to the quarter-final clash. Leicester threatened the Munster line on numerous occasions but the defence held strong. At the final whistle, Munster emerged victorious over the team that beat them in the Heineken Cup Final almost a year ago.

Two Irish teams now have a chance to meet on Final Day in Lansdowne Road. Before then, Leinster meet Perpignan while Munster meet Toulouse in what promises to be an exciting semi-final clash in two weeks time.