Munster Fall Away In Second Half

Munster’s already slim hopes of reaching the RaboDirect PRO12 play-offs are fading after they were comprehensively beaten by Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium on Friday.

Rob Penney’s men were blown away by a four-try second half performance from the Warriors, who bounced back impressively from losing to Leinster last weekend.

The Scottish side ran in six tries in all, including three intercept efforts, as Munster’s defence crumbled alarmingly in the closing stages and thoughts seemingly turned to next week’s crunch Heineken Cup quarter-final against Harlequins.

Penney will hope that this disheartening defeat does not impact on the province’s chances of turning over the reigning English champions, with few positives to take from the heavy loss.

Munster endured a nightmare start as Sean Maitland, returning from Six Nations duty with Scotland, swept through for a try inside the first minute.

Maitland intercepted Casey Laulala’s high pass and evaded the centre’s tackle to sprint over after just 25 seconds, with Ruaridh Jackson converting from the right.

But Munster prospered from their first real attack, James Coughlan driving into the 22 and Paul O’Connell and David Kilcoyne carrying closer in.

Paddy Butler’s presence drew in the defence as Duncan Williams’ inviting skip pass put Laulala over for a well-worked try in response. Ronan O’Gara converted to tie things up with 10 minutes gone.

Given the high stakes with both teams pushing for semi-final berths, the tackle collisions and the breakdown battles were particularly physical with referee Leighton Hodges having to deal with a couple of flashpoints.

Munster tried to unlock the Warriors’ defence with Felix Jones and O’Gara probing with a couple of chips over the top, but the hosts’ back-three covered the danger.

Munster’s lineout mauling, which proved effective against Connacht, forced Glasgow backwards and DTH van der Merwe had to rip the ball away from Mike Sherry’s grasp as the hooker threatened to score in the right corner.

Another maul was stopped close to the whitewash before powerful prop Kilcoyne, supported by Coughlan, muscled his way over from a Williams pass.

O’Gara added the extras for a 14-7 lead, only for Williams to ruin that good work with a loose pass which allowed his opposite number Niko Matawalu run in Glasgow’s second intercept try of the night.

The fiery Fijian scrum half was having more of an influence on proceedings as the first half wore on, with his instinctive play around the fringes keeping Munster on their toes.

Jackson’s conversion levelled this fast-paced encounter, and the out-half then punished infringements by Sherry and BJ Botha – the latter offence coming in a scrum – to give Glasgow a 20-14 advantage at the break.

A long range penalty from O’Gara made it a three-point margin, but his 49th minute strike proved to be Munster’s final score of the game.

Durable flanker Josh Strauss barged his way up initially before Glasgow moved the ball to the left where Jackson dummied his way past Tommy O’Donnell, who had been one of Munster’s better players in the opening 40 minutes, for his side’s third try.

The try scorer tagged on the conversion himself and a further penalty with 65 minutes gone, leaving the visitors a full 13 points adrift with just a quarter of an hour remaining.

Munster had become quite ragged at this stage and there was nothing the talismanic Paul O’Connell, captain Doug Howlett or an eager bench could do to get them back firing on all cylinders.

Glasgow continued to force the issue, with their scrum growing in confidence, and the bonus point score duly arrived in the 70th minute, young replacement Mark Bennett touching down after a strong run from van der Merwe.

Jackson added the conversion for good measure and his replacement Duncan Weir converted the Warriors’ final two tries which were scored by Stuart Hogg and flanker John Barclay respectively.

Laulala fell off a tackle as Scotland speedster Hogg darted through on a long break which he finished in trademark fashion in the left corner, getting over past the covering Felix Jones.

Munster broke up the one-way traffic with a fine score at the other end, Jones’ smart break paving the way for Howlett to squeeze over out wide on the right. O’Gara’s replacement Ian Keatley supplied the conversion.

However, Keatley became the third Munster player to be caught out for an intercept try as his midfield pass was swooped upon by Barclay who ran over halfway and showed admirable pace for a 6ft 3in, 101kg back rower to avoid Jones’ grasp on the way to the line.

Weir’s successful conversion took Gregor Townsend’s men through the 50-point mark, completing a frustrating night for Munster fans who just six days previously were cheering O’Connell’s try-scoring return against Connacht.