Munster Battle For Losing Bonus Point

Heineken Cup debutant Sam Tuitupou’s late try garnered a losing bonus point for Munster as they opened their Pool 3 campaign with a 23-17 loss to London Irish in Reading.

Having trailed by 20-6 early in the second half, Munster had to dig deep to wrestle a losing bonus point away from the Madejski Stadium.

The try that got it for them was set up by a terrific midfield bust from impressive replacement David Wallace, and then a well-weighted grubber kick from Ronan O’Gara was gobbled up by the onrushing Sam Tuitupou who raced in from the right.

A defensively-strong London Irish laid the plaform for victory in the opening half, with out-half Ryan Lamb kicking 15 points.

An intercept try from winger Topsy Ojo put 14 points between the sides, and although O’Gara and Tuitupou helped Munster fight back for a bonus point, a monster penalty from full-back Delon Armitage confirmed Irish as winners.

Speaking afterwards, Munster coach Tony McGahan said: “The nature of this pool, and the class of those in it, means that any point won away from home is very important.

“Overall, we are disappointed with our first half display, too many mistakes, too many penalties conceded. London Irish played smart rugby and deserved their win.

“People must remember that this is very nearly Test match rugby, so every error tends to be punished. But ultimately, we were denied by two great pieces of defence by Irish when we were virtually over their line.

“Those hits were crucial to the outcome because they came when we were pushing them backwards yard by yard.”

O’Gara added: “I don’t believe we deserved more than we got. We were not accurate enough and the only consolation is that we never give up, and that late surge may yet be massively important.

“I’m concerned that our discipline wasn’t good enough and we lacked ruthlessness in the green team’s area. London Irish won on merit, we need to be better next time out.”

A legend of Munster and Irish rugby, the late Moss Keane, was remembered before the match with a tremendous minute-long standing ovation from the players and supporters.

The first ever competitive meeting of these sides – the current leaders in the Aviva Premiership and Magners League respectively – saw Munster take a fourth minute lead, O’Gara punishing the hosts for a ruck offence.

In response, Lamb booted a brace of penalties as some clever game management from the hosts forced Munster to concede territory.

McGahan’s men showed what they could do off some fluid passing from Peter Stringer and O’Gara, and Armitage had to produce a powerful tackle to force Doug Howlett into touch.

With their lineout functioning well, Irish turned down a shot at the posts as they looked to prize open the Munster defence. Hands in the ruck from Niall Ronan offered Lamb a kick from closer range, and he duly obliged for a 9-3 scoreline.

Lamb’s half-back partner Paul Hodgson was then the victim of a dangerous tackle from Tuitupou which left him requiring treatment.

The Munster centre was sent to the sin-bin and an injury to their stand-in captain Denis Leamy left them temporarily down to 13 players.

Despite this fact, they conjured up a crucial turnover near their 22 just as Irish were beginning to make headway. They could not hold out, however, and after a break from Elvis Seveali’i, Lamb landed a well-taken drop goal.

Lamb and O’Gara traded penalties coming up to half-time, with the latter’s effort coming after Armitage was whistled up for a swinging arm tackle.

It was a high intensity first half, and Munster had good contributions up front from Ronan, James Coughlan and Tony Buckley.

Defences were on top and it was no surprise that it took an error to open things up for the game’s first try.

Barely 30 seconds into the second half, a pass from Johne Murphy to Denis Hurley was intercepted by the alert Ojo, near halfway, and he had the gas to charge over for a vital score.

Lamb was off target with his conversion attempt, and Munster regrouped to boss play for the next 20 minutes. Their forwards retained possession, they tidied up their lineout and scrum and O’Gara kicked with renewed precision.

He landed the second of two penalty attempts and a now dominant Munster hunted for an elusive try. Buckley was foiled by Armitage just metres from the line, and a subsequent knock on let Irish off the hook.

The hosts’ lead was cut to eight points when O’Gara converted his fourth successful penalty in the 69th minute, and more scores looked there for the taking in a nail-biting climax.

Three minutes later, Irish boosted their lead with a penalty from Armitage from a couple of metres inside his own half.

With time running out and the win now beyond them, Munster gained some consolation in the form of a losing bonus point.

Replacement scrum half Duncan Williams showed well during his time on the pitch and after Wallace’s slaloming run towards the 22, he passed right for O’Gara to thread the ball through for Tuitupou to touch down.

There were some error-strewn passages and neither side played as they would have wanted to, but it was compelling viewing throughout.

Such is the nature of Pool 3 and the calibre of teams involved, qualification for the knockout stages is likely to go right down to the final matches in January. Only then will the value of Tuitupou’s late try be revealed.