A late 10-point burst, including an injury-time penalty from Ian Keatley, could yet prove crucial for Munster who battled all the way in today’s 26-19 defeat to European Champions Cup Pool 1 leaders Clermont Auvergne.
The Munstermen picked up a losing bonus point right at the death, summoning one big final push on the back of hooker Duncan Casey’s 74th-minute intercept try.
Fritz Lee, the man-of-the-match in last week’s duel in Limerick, threw a stray pass for Casey’s score and he also infringed at a ruck past the 80-minute mark, allowing Ian Keatley to coolly slot the final penalty from outside the 10-metre line.
However, Clermont were full value for their win at the Stade Marcel Michelin as they outscored Anthony Foley’s men by three tries to one – captain Damien Chouly bagged a brace and elusive winger Noa Nakaitaci also touched down.
Munster managed to produce a much-improved performance but it was not enough as they lost both round 3 and 4 fixtures for the first time in the province’s illustrious European Cup history.
A couple of moments of counter-attacking class from Clermont undid what was a very bright start from Munster, who led 6-0 initially thanks to two Keatley penalties.
The visitors unfortunately had a hand in their own downfall, though. The otherwise impressive Conor Murray failed to find touch with a clearance kick and Clermont countered for an 18th minute try from flanker Chouly.
The French giants repeatedly took quick lineouts and that admirable adventure was rewarded just before the interval. Simon Zebo just about found touch following an Aurélien Rougerie surge down the left, but Munster were slow to react to another swiftly-taken lineout and Nakaitaci was given far too much space to jink away from three players and his excellent footwork took him past Andrew Conway to score a fine individual try.
Man-of-the-match Camille Lopez’s conversion, adding to his 26th minute penalty, completed a 15-point turnaround and gave Clermont real momentum to take into the second half.
Those costly concessions ruined what had been a largely positive opening 40 minutes from Foley’s charges. There was immediate evidence of improved play at the breakdown where openside Tommy O’Donnell made himself a nuisance.
Keatley landed a hugely encouraging penalty from inside his own half for a fourth minute lead and Munster soon made further inroads, profiting from Murray’s quick deliveries from rucks.
The new centre pairing of JJ Hanrahan and Andrew Smith brought the visitors into try-scoring range with some hard running, and it took a man-and-ball tackle by Rougerie on Keatley to halt Munster’s progress as they pressed for the opening try.
From a scrum in front of the posts, the side-stepping Hanrahan threatened again with ball in hand. Munster were playing with a penalty advantage and Keatley gladly took the three points on offer to make it 6-0.
There were concerned Clermont faces again when Keatley found a hole in the hosts’ midfield, outfoxing Rougerie this time, with inexperienced loosehead prop John Ryan doing well in the initial scrums.
But Clermont responded in impressive fashion at the tail-end of the first quarter, Lopez’s lovely chip and collect setting them on their way.
The partisan crowd roared their approval as a subsequent attack, following a loose Murray kick, saw Wesley Fofana weave through and suddenly Munster were under the pump. Closer in, Chouly then seized the initiative to pile over from a couple of metres out.
Lopez failed to convert from a left-sided position, seeing Munster hold onto a slim lead. Leaking the five-pointer failed to knock Munster’s confidence, as Keatley, playing flat alongside the lively Hanrahan, continued to keep the Clermont midfield guessing.
Lopez was back on target with a successful penalty, before Paul O’Connell brilliantly soared to claim the restart and his instinctive offload saw O’Donnell bring play up to the Clermont 22.
For all the positive moments such as the above, and Peter O’Mahony’s ripping the ball free from Rougerie’s grasp amid a series of Munster turnovers, the pace and power of the Clermont team grew more influential approaching half-time.
The fit-again Morgan Parra failed to convert a long range penalty after Clermont convincingly won a scrum decision, but Franck Azéma’s side grabbed a timely second try in the 39th minute as Munster allowed Nakaitaci to run at them and he duly finished in devastating fashion.
Munster immediately ate into the 15-6 deficit on the restart, a Lee ruck offence allowing Keatley to slot his third successful penalty of the afternoon.
The visitors were left to rue two costly errors, just minutes later, as Conway missed a tackle on Lopez and full-back Felix Jones was sin-binned for tripping the advancing Clermont out-half as he chased his own kick down the left wing.
Lopez knocked over the resulting penalty for 18-9 and although Murray and Hanrahan brought Munster back into the Clermont 22, the hosts’ grizzled scrum was beginning to hurt the men in red – as well as the churned-up pitch.
Conway fumbled a high ball and the resulting scrum gave Lopez another sight of goal, although this time he pulled his kick wide from the 10-metre line.
Jones returned to the fray before Lopez redeemed himself with an accurate penalty from in front of the posts. There were growing fears for Munster when number 8 Lee broke through midfield and the supporting Sébastien Vahaamahina had to be hauled down just short by a combination of Conway and Zebo.
A subsequent knock-on by Fofana ruined the attack and let overworked Munster off the hook. It took some resolute defending to keep Clermont at bay, and lock Vahaamahina also blotted his copybook with a needless off-the-ball infringement on O’Connell.
The gritty visitors were still in the hunt until a scrum penalty launched Clermont forward and Lopez’s pinpoint cross-field kick in the 72nd minute found Chouly who barged over in the right corner despite Zebo’s committed tackle.
The Clermont skipper appeared to have been ahead of the kicker when Lopez launched the ball accross to him, but referee Nigel Owens awarded the try which went unconverted.
Munster’s European hopes were now hanging by a thread and a bonus point try for Clermont would have really hammered home their advantage. However, the hosts were brought back down to earth when Lee’s pass on his own 22 was picked off by Casey who had enough pace and strength to crash over for his first European try.
Keatley added the extras to reduce the arrears to 10 points and Munster used all their street smarts to hang in there, earning a last-gasp scrum from which they broke back into the Clermont half. Lee duly infringed at ruck time and Keatley stepped forward to secure a precious bonus point on the road.
Speaking afterwards, Munster captain Peter O’Mahony said: “We will always pride ourselves on our physicality and we have put ourselves in a position where we can still qualify.
“I am hugely proud of the lads digging in and pulling something out at a hugely difficult place to come and play.
“We dug in and got a point and you cannot yet tell what is going to happen in terms of qualification. That point could prove crucial.”
Asked about the improvements from last week’s display, he commented: “We did our homework on them once again and I think we played a little bit smarter this week. Our half-backs were brilliant and we tried to play around them and I thought JJ Hanrahan had a super game.
“But it was a difficult battle, Clermont are a hugely physical side and very good technically at the breakdown. We ran into a very good side that is playing really well.
“Last week against them we were guilty of making too many simple errors, whereas this time we let ourselves down with some poor kick-chase in the first half.
“We had two good wins at the start of the group campaign and now we can look forward to those two huge return games next month.”
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