There was no fairytale finish for Munster great Paul O’Connell as Glasgow Warriors triumphed 31-13 in Belfast to become the first Scottish winners of the GUINNESS PRO12.
Paul O’Connell, who is poised to sign a two-year deal with Toulon, could do little as converted tries from Rob Harley, DTH van der Merwe and Henry Pyrgos gave Glasgow a 21-10 half-time lead.
Andrew Smith scored Munster’s only try just before the break and Ian Keatley cut the gap to eight points, but Finn Russell (try) and his replacement Duncan Weir (penalty) sealed the title for Gregor Townsend’s men.
The runaway victory, watched by a 17,057-strong Kingspan Stadium crowd, saw Glasgow reproduce their table-topping form and exorcise the ghosts of twelve months ago when they were comfortably beaten by Leinster in a one-sided final.
Speaking to TG4 after the game, O’Connell, who is reportedly moving on after 14 outstanding years with his native province, said: “It’s very disappointing. We didn’t show up in the first half. Nothing seemed to work for us. That’s just the way it goes, it’s a shame to perform in a final like that but that’s life.
“Glasgow haven’t played well the last two weeks. They’re such a good side and they were never going to play that way for a third week. Their second row (Leone Nakarawa) got some lovely offloads away, he’s a hard guy to take down and it ultimately led to two of their tries.”
Asked about his plans for the future, the Ireland captain remained coy when saying: “Summer off now and prepare for the World Cup.”
It took a well-timed poach from Dave Kilcoyne to break up an early blitz from Glasgow who were full of running in the opening half. A ruck offence from van der Merwe offered up a difficult first penalty attempt for Keatley who pushed his kick wide.
The Warriors looked much more threatening with ball in hand, though, and stand-in captain Denis Hurley’s tap tackle saved Munster as van der Merwe hurtled down the left wing.
The deadlock was broken by the Scots in the eighth minute, Fijian powerhouse Nakawara showing sublime hands and feet to surge through the heart of the Munster defence and send flanker Harley in under the posts. Russell added the simple conversion.
Glasgow were oozing confidence as they countered at will, Peter Horne finding a hole on the right before Nakarawa’s attempted pass went into touch. In contrast, Munster looked tentative and were not helped by some poorly placed kicks out of hand from the error-prone Keatley.
Keith Earls did just enough to deny van der Merwe as the pair chased down a Russell kick, before Earls got his first chance to stretch his legs in attack, cutting in off his right from a Felix Jones pass and Simon Zebo was then held up just short of the try-line.
Keatley got Munster off the mark shortly afterwards, splitting the posts from just outside the 22 following a muscular scrum that marched Glasgow backwards.
Munster’s joy was short-lived, however, as Nakarawa swatted away Duncan Williams, drew in two defenders and offloaded brilliantly for van der Merwe to fend off Keatley near the left touchline and finish off try number two.
Russell converted for a 14-3 scoreline and it got worse for Anthony Foley’s sluggish side when a Billy Holland knock-on led to another Glasgow seven-pointer, Stuart Hogg slicing through on the right before passing back inside for Pyrgos to go over unopposed.
Importantly, Munster managed to respond before the interval. Scrum half Williams made a break to spark the province’s best attacking spell in the 22 and Glasgow’s resolute defence was finally broken down by centre Smith, who built up a head of steam to impressively barge through three defenders with Keatley converting.
In increasingly wet conditions at the start of the second half, Munster’s pack made promising headway by winning a scrum penalty and pressing from two mauls in the 22 at the end of which O’Connell was held up past the whitewash.
A subsequent scrum penalty, awarded close to the posts, saw Keatley make it 21-13, but Russell led Glasgow’s response, spotting a mismatch in midfield and threading a well-weighted kick through that almost played in Tommy Seymour for a try out wide.
O’Connell increased his influence with a lineout steal and a big tackle on Horne, however clinical Glasgow began to turn the screw again with an instinctive sidefoot pass from that man Nakarawa keeping them on the attack.
The pressure eventually told as the Warriors pack chipped away at the Munster defence to create an opening for the fleet-footed Russell to cross to the right of the posts and tag on the conversion.
There was no way back for a tiring Munster team who severely missed the dynamism of three of their current Ireland internationals – the injured Conor Murray, Peter O’Mahony and Tommy O’Donnell.
A 73rd minute penalty from replacement out-half Weir sewed up the result as Glasgow’s retiring captain Al Kellock – a replacement in the final quarter – got to close out his professional career by lifting the league trophy.
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