Munster Finish With A Flourish In Glasgow Rain

Closing tries from player-of-the-match Gavin Coombes and Jean Kleyn steered Munster to a hard-earned 27-13 bonus point win over Glasgow Warriors tonight.

In rain-lashed conditions in Scotstoun, the forwards were central to Munster’s sixth successive Guinness PRO14 victory with three tries coming from mauls and their scrum mostly dominant.

Captain Billy Holland and Fineen Wycherley both touched down in the first half, with a Ben Healy penalty extending the lead to 15-8, six minutes after the break.

With Holland in the sin-bin, a Grant Stewart try had Glasgow just two points behind, but close-range efforts from Coombes (68 minutes) and Kleyn (77) saw Munster finish the stronger.

The result has the province 11 points clear at the top of Conference B, and head coach Johann van Graan said afterwards: “For this group, this is a big win for us. We haven’t won here for quite a bit and Glasgow’s a tough side.

“There’s been a lot of Munster-Glasgow battles, and there were some big moments in this game. The counter ruck with about 10 minutes to go under our own sticks. So, really glad about this one.

“It’s a real squad effort, I think Craig (Casey) and Ben did well in difficult conditions. I thought the forward pack gave them a lot of dominance, I thought we mauled and scrummed really well tonight.

“We lost our captain to a yellow card, so our game management was pretty good when he was off the pitch. Rugby these days is a real 23-man effort, we got everyone on and everyone made a difference.

“It’s obviously great to start the season with six out of six, but we, as a group, just take it week by week. The one week doesn’t really influence the other one, so we’ll enjoy the win and start again, we’ve got Zebre at home next Monday.”

Playing Glasgow in the Championship for the first time in more than two years, Munster won the kicking battle early on with Mike Haley, Calvin Nash and Rory Scannell all contributing.

The visitors’ powerful lineout drive provided the platform for Holland to crash over in the right corner with 10 minutes gone. Against the wind, out-half Healy landed a brilliant conversion for 7-0.

Glasgow hit back barely three minutes later, as a sweeping Tommy Seymour break – via Sean Kennedy’s pop pass – set up their first try. Robbie Nairn supplied the assist for Glenn Bryce to finish in the left corner.

Pete Horne’s conversion attempt was off target but Brandon Thompson landed a 50-metre penalty, just minutes later, to put the hosts 8-7 in front.

However, with Glasgow losing both Nick Grigg and Seymour to injury, Munster attacked again through their forwards who avenged that scrum penalty prior to Thompson’s monster strike.

This time Wycherley was at the bottom of the pile from another well-executed lineout drive. Healy watched his conversion come back off the post, leaving Munster 12-8 ahead at the break.

The talented Tipperary youngster missed a difficult penalty effort, early in the second half, following a high tackle on industrious full-back Haley.

Healy then overcooked a penalty to the corner but bounced back to land a long-range shot at goal, as the Munster scrum again got the decision.

The Munster front row was on top and eked out another scrum penalty, although the 21-year-old Healy was narrowly wide with his long-range 51st-minute strike.

Glasgow then enjoyed their best period just before the hour mark. Holland was sent to the bin after multiple penalties as the Scots looked to maul their way over from a few metres out.

Hooker Stewart eventually grounded the ball, as the Warriors gave Munster a taste of their own medicine at maul time. Lining up the conversion from the right, Thompson’s attempt to level drifted wide at 15-13.

Nonetheless, table-topping Munster were able to steady the ship. With 13 minutes remaining, he numbers were evened up when Glasgow captain Ryan Wilson saw yellow for diving in dangerously on Casey on the ground.

The Munstermen immediately went for the corner and following another bout of unrelenting forward pressure, Coombes picked and drove over for his sixth try of the campaign.

Healy converted superbly into the elements, his well-struck kick from the left nudging van Graan’s charges clear by more than a converted score.

The bonus point was the icing on the cake for Munster late on. With a well-timed run, second row Kleyn broke off a maul and used brute force to score despite two covering defenders.