Boosted by another long-range penalty from Rory Scannell, Munster held on to secure a vital 30-26 bonus point win over the Toyota Cheetahs in a tightly-contested GUINNESS PRO14 Conference A clash.
Arno Botha, man-of-the-match Kevin O’Byrne, Liam Coombes and Mike Haley all touched down as Munster, who led 15-5 at half-time, registered their first away victory in all tournaments since visiting Bloemfontein for the corresponding fixture last April.
Promising 21-year-old out-half Bill Johnston kicked seven points on his first GUINNESS PRO14 start and Rory Scannell, the province’s last-gasp goal-kicking hero against Glasgow Warriors last weekend, fired home another important penalty from halfway in the closing stages.
Liam Coombes, who was a late inclusion in the back-line for Sam Arnold, made his senior competitive debut for Munster, bringing the west Cork contingent to three with his cousin Gavin Coombes on the bench and lock Fineen Wycherley also making his first PRO14 start.
There were four Academy players in the visitors’ matchday 23 at Toyota Stadium – Liam Coombes and Shane Daly in the back-line and replacements Gavin Coombes and Sean O’Connor – and Academy graduate Johnston got to an excellent start as he kept the Cheetahs pinned back with intelligent and well-executed kicking.
The Cheetahs did waste a superb early opportunity after breaking through midfield but the final pass to Sibahle Maxwane was dropped and the chance was gone. With a Munster maul dragged down in the 10th minute, up stepped Johnston to land the tricky penalty for a 3-0 lead.
South African number 8 Botha was over for the first try on the quarter hour mark after excellent work from the Munster scrum. Alby Mathewson went for a quick tap and although he was stopped just short, Botha was on hand to touch down to put eight points between the sides.
A magnificent try-saving tackle from Alex Wootton then prevented a certain score with the winger showing brilliant pace to drag down Maxwane with the try-line beckoning. Similarly, Liam Coombes made a vital tackle in the left corner before Chris Cloete was sin-binned in the 26th minute for kicking the ball in a ruck.
The Cheetahs, who sit bottom of Conference A, sent the penalty into the corner and hooker Joseph Dweba duly grounded the ball from the subsequent lineout maul. Tian Schoeman was unlucky to see his conversion blown off the tee and his drop goal attempt was off target as Munster held onto a three-point advantage.
Wootton and Botha did really well to get Munster back on the attack, on the half hour, but the Cheetahs won a breakdown ball to relieve the pressure. Crucially, with the interval just a few minutes away, O’Byrne picked the perfect time to break off a maul and he showed impressive speed to score with Johnston converting.
Leading by 10 points at the turnaround, Johann van Graan’s men enjoyed the perfect start to the second half. Four minutes in, some terrific combination play from O’Byrne and Johnston set up the opportunity. The number 10 went on a looping run and floated out a telling pass for Liam Coombes to score in the right corner. The extras were added by Johnston.
The 21-year-old winger’s maiden Championship score was followed by a second Cheetahs try, seven minutes later. A clever lineout move sent loosehead Ox Nche over to cut the deficit back to 10 minutes with just under half-an-hour remaining.
The pressure grew on Munster when the South Africans’ captain Shaun Venter made a clever break around the fringes of the ruck before finding hooker Joseph Dweba on his shoulder. Schoeman added the conversion and Munster’s lead was down to 22-19 as we entered the final 20 minutes.
The Cheetahs led for the first time with 63 minutes on the clock, Schoeman and Venter combining to put full-back Rhyno Smith over with Schoeman’s successful conversion making it 26-22. Five minutes later, Munster were celebrating their bonus point score after replacement Ian Keatley put Smith’s opposite number Haley through for a very important try.
Keatley missed his conversion from close range, but a four-point cushion was opened up thanks to Scannell’s cracking penalty from distance with four minutes remaining. Despite the Cheetahs winning a late penalty which they kicked to the corner, heroic defending slammed them door shut and Munster held on to move into second place in the Conference A standings.
In a further boost for Johann van Graan’s men, Tyler Bleyendaal made a successful return from his neck injury, captained the province and playing 54 minutes in his first appearance since last February. He featured in a new-look centre pairing with Daly, who switched from the right wing to midfield after Arnold did not complete the return-to-play protocols.
Van Graan said afterwards: “We knew that we could expect tight games in the tournament and we had to figure out how to manage a close game. I thought that we did it well last week against Glasgow, and we did it exceptionally well again tonight.
“That comes from good planning and also from experience. Tyler owned it very well in the first 55 minutes, and when Rory came on he took over the captaincy and carried on with the good work. That’s why you need experience. Duncan Williams coming from the bench just settled it all down for us.
“We had a young squad out there today and it was tough to get our balance during the week. You’ve got to have fun and enjoy it, but you’ve got to train hard as well. You do as much as you can to prepare for the challenge, and I do think that the guys responded well. We had a few old heads out there, but we also had a lot of young guys on the park as well.
“The effort they put out there and the way they performed I thought was outstanding. We were under a lot of pressure and experienced guys came on to help close the game out. We’re just so happy with the result and to leave here with a win is massive for us. To head into a two-week break and to be sitting where we are on the log is pretty pleasing.”
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