Despite a sprightly start from Munster that saw them take an 8-0 lead, an unyielding Cardiff Blues fought back to edge in front on 34 minutes and never looked back in securing a 37-28 bonus point victory over the province.
Ian Keatley opened the scoring with a penalty on three minutes and that lead was soon extended to 8-0 when young winger Darren Sweetnam crossed for his first competitive try.
Rory Scannell made the initial headway before finding his centre partner Francis Saili who in turn linked up with the in-form Sweetnam for a five-pointer in the right corner.
The Cardiff scrum held the upper hand in the early exchanges and a set piece penalty allowed Rhys Patchell – the league’s top points scorer this season – to reduce the deficit to five points on 10 minutes.
The Blues would also get the next score and cross the whitewash when doing so – Josh Navidi making a wonderful break in midfield before drawing the final man and popping the ball to Macauley Cook who dotted down on 33 minutes. Patchell was again on the money for the extra two points and the hosts led 10-8 at the interval.
Ill-discipline was an issue for Munster on the restart and gifted Patchell two early penalties, the play-maker opting for the posts with the second and sailing it over to the delight of the home fans.
A Keatley penalty reduced the gap to two (13-11) but sooner rather than later the Cardiff contingent had more reason to cheer when hooker Matthew Rees touched down from a quickly-taken lineout that caught Munster off guard. Man-of-the-match Patchell maintained his 100% kicking record to put nine points between the sides.
Munster stayed in touch, however, and Rees’ opposite number, Mike Sherry, was on hand to finish off a wonderful lineout maul from close range and with Keatley also adding the extras, Munster were again within two points.
Yet as if to tease their opposition, whenever Munster honed in and came within a kick of the lead, Cardiff quickly found an answer, scoring tries when it mattered most and taking advantage of some lacklustre defending.
This time Garyn Smith stripped the ball from Munster hands and raced away for his side’s third touchdown with Patchell making it a full seven-point return.
Replacement Johnny Holland landed a penalty to make it 27-21 on 67 minutes, but soon after, Patchell rounded off an excellent night with the boot by converting his own solo try which also bagged the try-scoring bonus point for the Welshmen.
Determined to salvage something from the game, Munster came again and we duly rewarded when Jack O’Donoghue struck for a try and with Holland nailing the conversion, the province at least looked to have secured a losing bonus point.
However, there would be one final and unwelcome twist in the tale for Munster. Poor discipline, as they attempted to run the ball from their own 22, presented Jarrod Evans with a penalty chance on 80 minutes. Like his team-mate Patchell, Evans made no mistake, denying Munster a losing bonus point at the end of a breathless encounter at BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park.
This disappointing defeat sees Munster remain fifth in the GUINNESS PRO12 standings. Academy second row Sean McCarthy came on to make his competitive debut for Munster, with fellow Academy members, Rory Scannell and David Johnston, also getting game-time on the night.
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