Hanrahan Rescues Win For Munster With Last-Gasp Drop Goal

JJ Hanrahan came off the bench to fire home a decisive last-minute drop goal in Munster’s 18-16 Guinness PRO14 win away to Benetton Rugby.

Johann van Graan’s men could have few complaints if Benetton had held on to take the spoils at the Stadio di Monigo, but up stepped Hanrahan to split the posts and extend their lead at the top of Conference B to 15 points.

Munster’s bright two-try start inside 10 minutes, with Darren Sweetnam and Niall Scannell both touching down, was overshadowed by a strong second quarter from Benetton who reduced the arrears to just 12-11.

Tommaso Allan added two penalties onto Angelo Esposito’s 25th-minute try, yet Munster were finally able to break their scoreless run with a much-needed 54th-minute penalty from Ben Healy.

Benetton continued to threaten and build pressure, working the ball wide for replacement Leonardo Sarto to get over in the 71st minute and give his side the lead for the first time.

The points looked to be staying in Treviso until a determined late surge downfield by the Munstermen. Hanrahan held his nerve to knock over a 38-metre drop goal before being mobbed by his team-mates.

The visitors had appeared to be setting the tone for a solid victory with a try after two minutes. Mike Haley’s tricky kick caused problems for the covering Jayden Hayward, bouncing off the left corner flag before Sweetnam swooped in to ground the ball successfully.

5-0 became 12-0 after a fleet-footed move ended with hooker Scannell crossing beside the posts. Some nice offloading from Liam Coombes and Dan Goggin sent Nick McCarthy scurrying through into the Benetton 22 and he brilliantly passed off the deck for Scannell to score.

Ben Healy added the extras, but despite losing prop Marco Riccioni to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle, the 14-man Italians responded impressively. Winger Esposito got over out wide with the Munster defence coming badly unstuck.

Allan tagged on a 33rd-minute penalty as Munster’s lead was suddenly whittled down to four points. With Benetton winning the collisions, they forced another kickable penalty just before half-time and Allan duly cut the gap to the minimum.

Munster had to weather a storm at the start of the second half with Benetton in the ascendancy. Nonetheless, they fought back well with Healy landing his only three-pointer after a promising attack.

Although Benetton were soon back on the front foot via a Federico Ruzza break, some reinforced defending from Munster repelled the attack just metres from their own line.

Full-back Haley saved a certain try when he showed his defensive smarts to tackle Tommaso Benvenuti and hold up the ball over the line.

However, from the resulting five-metre scrum, Benetton did manage to edge ahead when Sarto was released for the right corner after a well-worked back-line move.

Allan was unable to convert, leaving the game tantalising poised at 16-15. Munster had barely a sniff of a chance during the closing stages, but Chris Cloete won what proved to be a vital breakdown penalty.

Replacement Hanrahan booted the visitors out of their own half, and after going through the phases, scrum half McCarthy whipped a pass back for the Kerry man to nail the match-winning drop goal with the clock in the red.

Giving his reaction afterwards, head coach van Graan said: “We played against a very good side tonight. We started the game really well, got some good momentum, scored two good tries.

“Benetton were very hot on the breakdown, it was a big breakdown battle, and you know, some moments in our discipline…we worked so hard to get a turnover and then give away a penalty straight away.

“But, you know, we stuck to it right to the end, and for Munster it’s never over until that final whistle goes.”

Asked about the final play, he added: “It’s not something we specifically train for during the week, it’s something that in our armoury. It was a really good maul and really good composure for JJ to get that (kick).”