Ospreys Overwhelmed By Magnificent Munster

Fittingly, in what was their 100th match in the Heineken Cup, Munster put in arguably their most complete performance in the tournament’s history as tries from man-of-the-match Paul Warwick, Paul O’Connell and Keith Earls (2), allied to a 100% kicking return from Ronan O’Gara, booked a semi-final date for them at Croke Park.

In this sort of form, Munster are truly an irresistable force. Cantering ahead in the second half, Tony McGahan’s side roared into the Heineken Cup semi-finals by crushing out-of-sorts Ospreys at Thomond Park.

Led brilliantly by man-of-the-match Paul Warwick, who notched a try and two stunning drop goals, Munster showed why they are the reigning kings of European rugby with a performance of near perfection.

The Ospreys crumbled after Paul O’Connell’s 55th-minute try, and the display from Munster suggested they will take some beating.

The men in red scored four tries, two from livewire centre Keith Earls, but could have added to that tally when running the Ospreys ragged in a one-sided second half.

The self-styled super region of Welsh rugby arrived at Irish rugby’s citadel believing they could cause the upset of the quarter-finals.

Ospreys travelled without the gifted British and Irish Lions contender Lee Byrne, which meant Grand Slam winner Tommy Bowe moved to full-back.

Jonny Vaughton slotted into the Monaghan native’s nominal right wing slot while Wales captain Ryan Jones started at number 6.

Champions Munster made one change to the team that beat Leinster in the Magners League last weekend, with Denis Leamy restored to the back row at Niall Ronan’s expense.

The hosts were the bookmakers’ favourites in what had been termed a reprise of the Ireland-Wales RBS 6 Nations decider in Cardiff last month.

The carrot dangling in front of the teams was a European semi-final, with Croke Park the venue for a Munster win and the Millennium Stadium if the Ospreys prevailed.

Bowe brilliantly fielded his first garryowen in the sixth minute, the ball was moved left where Shane Williams was stopped in his tracks by a big Lifeimi Mafi tackle.

Munster were penalised for offside but James Hook’s difficult angled kick from the left touchline just went left. Munster almost snatched the game’s opening try inside the first 15 minutes.

Tomas O’Leary made a darting break inside the Ospreys 22, offloaded to David Wallace, and the dynamic number 7 drove to the line, but Andrew Bishop appeared to get under the Ireland flanker.

Television match official Geoff Warren determined that there was no downward pressure and from the proceeding five-metre scrum and drive off the back from Wallace, the Ospreys infringed and Ronan O’Gara tapped over the resultant 14th-minute penalty.

Hook levelled with a long range effort three minutes later, but after Munster again forced the pressure at the breakdown area in the Ospreys’ half, referee Wayne Barnes rewarded the home side with a penalty in front of the posts, subsequently converted by O’Gara.

The Ospreys were reduced to 14 men in the 25th minute when Filo Tiatia was binned for illegally obstructing Warwick’s run.

The Australian full-back did excellently to skip past three Ospreys tacklers outside his own 22, and kicked ahead before Tiatia made his challenge and was promptly sent to the bin.

Munster’s 34th-minute try was worked superbly, with quick recycling and the home side switching possession first to the left and then to the right.

When the ball reached Warwick he broke the tackles of Alun Wyn Jones and Ian Gough before skipping past Bowe to dot down. O’Gara added the extras.

The champions continued to up the ante, and went in search of more points.

John Hayes forced a mammoth turnover inside his own half, Mafi followed up with a superb break down the left flank, inter-linking with Wallace.

Munster numbers were slow to arrive though after the Ospreys kicked back possession and Warwick stepped forward to land a peach of a drop goal in the 39th minute to give his side a 16-6 half-time lead.

McGahan’s charges exerted early pressure after the interval. O’Gara found Williams out of position and chipped to the corner; moments later O’Leary made a scything break off a lineout but over-cooked his intended corner chip for Earls.

But when Warwick was pinged by Barnes for holding on after displaying impressive strength to carry possession out of his own ’22’, Hook kicked his third penalty of the day in the 45th minute.

Three minutes later, Hook was penalised for a similar offence and O’Gara nailed a long range effort to push Munster’s lead out to 10 points. The game’s defining try arrived then after 55 minutes.

From a scrum on the Ospreys’ 22, Wallace carried from the back putting Doug Howlett into the space.

Then from the ensuing recycle, O’Leary fed O’Connell who dotted down in the corner. O’Gara then landed the touchline conversion to push Munster into a comfortable 26-9 lead.

Munster added further woe to the Welsh region, when Warwick landed his second drop goal, this time from halfway, in the 57th minute.

Earls then scorched over for Munster’s third in the 63rd minute following a brilliant offload from Mafi.

And just as they thought the afternoon could not get any worse, the Ospreys conceded another try straight from the restart.

Earls picked up a loose ball before skipping down the touchline, and despite the best efforts of Mike Phillips, the centre dotted down in the corner.

The TMO deemed the try was good and O’Gara’s touchline conversion gave his side their incredible but deserved winning margin, as they thrillingly kept their Magners League and Heineken Cup ‘double’ bid on track.