Ian Keatley kicked 20 points and captain Peter O’Mahony produced a man-of-the-match performance as Munster boxed clever to beat Leicester Tigers 25-16 at Welford Road tonight.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: LEICESTER TIGERS 16 MUNSTER 25
Munster’s first win at Leicester’s fortress since 2006 keeps them four points clear at the top of Pool 4, as well as completing a second successive Irish clean sweep in Europe. They are also the first team to defeat Leicester in back-to-back Champions Cup fixtures since they were introduced in 1999..
Johann van Graan’s men recovered from conceding a 12th minute try to Mathew Tait, drawing 11 penalties from the ill-disciplined hosts whose yellow-carded prop Dan Cole was responsible for five of those. Ian Keatley mopped up with four successful place-kicks to give Munster a 12-10 half-time lead.
CJ Stander, who led superbly from the front along with skipper Peter O’Mahony, rumbled over for a 42nd minute try after a lineout steal by O’Mahony and a smashing run by Conor Murray. Keatley’s conversion put nine points between the sides.
Tigers battled back with a brace of three-pointers from George Ford, the second after Munster replacement John Ryan was sin-binned on the hour mark, but the visitors wrestled back control to set up the hugely instrumental Keatley for his fifth and sixth successful penalties of a bruising and feverish contest.
Those well-struck kicks after 72 and 77 minutes pocketed four more precious points for unbeaten Munster, who remain in control of the pool ahead of their mouth-watering New Year’s visit to second-placed Racing 92.
Receiving the man-of-the-match award just two days after the announcement of his new IRFU contract, O’Mahony admitted: “It’s a massive result for us, we know the history that we have with Leicester and there’s a lot of similarities between us and them. It’s a pleasure to play against them every time.
“You work bloody hard to get a win here – 11 years it’s taken us, so it’s a huge effort from the boys. We knew it was going to be difficult. They’re a great side. We knew it wasn’t going to be that open, so we knew we had to buckle up.
“I had a really poor read for their first try. We had a couple of mistakes, but the boys battled out hard and it was a great performance from them. Yellow cards are a difficult thing to know how to play them and I thought we certainly played them a little better.
“We were lucky with a couple of bounces of the ball and a couple of things went our way, and there was a couple of times they knocked on when we were under a fair bit of pressure, but delighted to come out of here with a win as it’s a difficult place to come and play.”
33-10 winners in Limerick last week, Munster knew they were in for a much tougher contest as they looked to become only the third away side to win a European match at Welford Road in 10 years. They trailed early on after Ford launched a second-minute penalty over from the right flank to punish a lineout infringement.
The response from Munster was good as Keatley’s superb touchfinder put the visitors into position five metres out, and after a solid spell of pressure, Leicester were pinged at the breakdown and Keatley booted his side level in the 10th minute.
However, the province gave away a soft try just a couple of minutes later. Leicester cleverly came back against the grain from a lineout and full-back Tait, with support outside him, was able to ghost through a gap between O’Mahony and Murray and run in his first score in 36 games. Ford converted for a 10-3 lead.
Munster had a strong maul platform off Kevin O’Byrne’s reliable lineout throwing, the hooker’s unerring darts on his first European start ensuring a plentiful supply of ball for the pack and scrum half Murray. He had a fine game, also contributing some big hits in defence.
Leicester were defending very well themselves, holding up Chris Cloete in a choke tackle and forcing the otherwise impressive Alex Wootton into a loose kick. The winger gained good ground in Munster’s next purposeful attack, winning a penalty from Cole for not rolling away and Keatley’s 23rd-minute strike made it 10-6.
The rain affected both sides’ handling with Cloete, who did well to initially break over halfway, fumbling in the midst of a heavy tackle. As Munster maintained the territorial advantage, Keatley’s cross-field kick bounced up for Darren Sweetnam, who had another tidy performance on the wing, but he was well tackled by Tait.
Nonetheless, Leicester’s penalty count was increasing as half-time approached. The box-kicking Murray was hit with a late shoulder by Graham Kitchener and also played at the back of a ruck, either side of a maul infringement from Tigers. The resulting place-kick was neatly dispatched through the uprights by Keatley.
Stander carried powerfully off a lost Leicester lineout and with Tigers caught offside, Keatley’s fourth successful kick gave Munster a 39th minute lead. Referee Mathieu Raynal duly lost patience with Cole’s persistent infringing and sin-binned the England tighthead in the dying seconds of the first half. Munster worked their way past halfway to set up a 54-metre penalty effort from Murray, out on the right wing, which went narrowly wide.
Van Graan’s charges kept hold of the momentum when play resumed. After an initial kick through from Tait which went dead, O’Mahony stole a lineout and Murray showed superb feet to dash up close to the Leicester whitewash. Quick recycling allowed Stander to burrow over from a couple of metres out and Keatley converted for a 19-10 scoreline.
The visitors were in full flow now with Simon Zebo and Wootton starting to get more ball in hand, yet Leicester weathered the storm and fought back strongly with Jonny May leading the charge with a superb slaloming run from deep. South African Cloete did brilliantly to gather the winger’s kick in behind the retreating Munster defence.
Back to their full complement following the return of Cole, Leicester kept the pressure on and eventually forced a penalty as Ford obliged to reduce the deficit to six points. Despite winning another lineout, O’Mahony was swarmed over by Luke Hamilton on the deck and the ensuing penalty launched Tigers forward again.
Munster sent for front row reinforcements in the form of John Ryan and Niall Scannell, returning from the thumb injury he suffered against Castres in the opening round. However, Ryan saw yellow for a cynical slap of the ball out of Ben Youngs’ hands and Ford’s successful kick set up a fascinating final quarter at 19-16.
Munster were now scrambling for some breathing space, and misses by Keatley via a drop goal and then a penalty, after Zebo was tackled late, left the match tantalisingly poised. Nonetheless, their killer instinct returned in the final eight minutes.
Showing the experience of former champions and semi-finalists last season, Munster stood firm with Wootton and Sam Arnold hustling hard in defence and Jack O’Donoghue also making his presence felt off the bench. Another lineout steal from O’Mahony preceded Keatley’s fifth penalty goal.
It was a crucial strike from the Dubliner and with replacement prop Brian Scott helping the province to get over the gain-line in the final minutes, Stander got into position to win a penalty at the breakdown. Keatley did the rest, splitting the posts again to seal a famous victory and take the losing bonus point away from Tigers.
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