Second Half Slump Sends Munster Home With Heavy Defeat

Munster’s inconsistent form on the road continue at the Arms Park where Cardiff Blue condemned Johann van Graan’s men to their second away defeat of the GUINNESS PRO14 season.

Two first half Andrew Conway tries and a Joey Conway penalty meant Munster trailed by just a point at the break, 14-13, but a dominant second half performance gave Cardiff a deserved victory and left the visitors to ponder their own defensive lapses and lineout woes.

Influential Wales international Gareth Anscombe was 100% off the tee, kicking 17 points, with ex-Munster back rower Nick Williams, Tomos Williams (2) and Willis Halaholo all scoring tries for a fired-up Cardiff side, who took out their frustrations on the province after three narrow losses in recent weeks.

The first 20 minutes went by in a flash with Nick Williams’ close-range converted try giving Cardiff the lead before a quick-fire Conway double saw Munster go 10-7 in front. The Blues could have been in double figures by that stage but Owen Lane’s initial try was ruled out for a block by Rey Lee-Lo on Joey Carbery.

There was no denying number 8 Williams his sixth-minute score, with centre and man-of-the-match Halaholo doing most of the damage to set up the opportunity, shrugging off a poor attempted tackle from Mike Sherry to charge right up to the try-line.

Munster’s brilliant one-two punch had them ahead by the 13th minute with winger Conway celebrating a quick-fire double. Chris Cloete squeezed out a turnover from a ruck near the right touchline and the equally fast hands of Duncan Williams and Carbery released Conway who expertly chipped past Anscombe and dotted down in the corner.

Carbery was at the heart of Conway’s second try soon after, the out-half beating Anscombe to his own garryowen and launching Munster forward with a sizzling 60-metre solo break. Tadhg Beirne did well to retrieve possession deep inside the Cardiff 22, and a couple of phases later, Rory Scannell and Carbery linked neatly and the latter, aided by Cloete tying up a defender, lofted a pass wide for Conway to dive over in the right corner.

Carbery was unable to tag on the extras from difficult positions, and the classy Halaholo inspired Cardiff’s response with a jinking run that again exposed some brittle defending. From a lineout on halfway, he found a gap between Carbery and Scannell, broke the line and then used some more nice footwork to evade Conway and send Tomos Williams over the left of the posts.

Following Anscombe’s conversion for a four-point advantage, the scoring rate dropped as both defences tightened up. Nonetheless, Munster were still having problems keeping a leash on Cardiff’s bubbly attack and Tomos Williams’ audacious pass almost teed up Kristian Dacey for try number three.

Johann van Graan’s charges did well to reduce the deficit to a single point for half-time, Carbery’s well-struck 42-metre penalty coming after some fine work at the breakdown by Beirne. But the Blues were much the better side on the resumption, swiftly getting the scoreboard moving thanks to that man Halaholo.

While Jaco Taute looked a little rusty on his full return to action, Halaholo was certainly the sharpest of the midfielders on show. Josh Navidi reacted quickest to Beirne’s lineout steal in the 43rd minute, setting Cardiff on the attack and Anscombe’s pass gave Halaholo the chance to get around Taute and cross in the left corner.

Anscombe’s reliable right boot also became more of a weapon as he knocked over the conversion and sent a penalty through the posts, eight minutes later, to suddenly leave Munster with it all to do. When a Munster siege around the hour mark was defended in superb fashion by the Cardiff defence, the province’s hopes of a comeback took a big blow.

Replacement prop Dave Kilcoyne went closest, just being held up right on the line, and the home side made them pay for that missed opportunity with Anscombe nailing two more penalties after 63 and 70 minutes for an unassailable 30-13 lead.

Credit to Cardiff, they did not let their intensity drop as Dacey and fellow front rower Dmitri Arhip won some crucial penalty decisions, the latter one at scrum time, and that set piece was preceded by a charge-down by scrum half Williams – another example of the Blues’ determination to end their losing start to the season.

A trademark snipe off a ruck from the 23-year-old half-back fashioned a well-merited bonus point score for the Welsh region who had 24 points to spare in the end. Munster endured a scoreless second half and a chastening night, one which they will hope to put behind them when hosting provincial rivals Ulster at Thomond Park next Saturday.

Giving his post-match reaction, Munster boss van Graan said: “That opportunity that we had, one metre from their try-line, had we scored, it might have been a different game. But it wasn’t, no excuses from our side. Cardiff were better than us on the night.

“We want to improve our away performance. This wasn’t good enough to win away from home. Cardiff used their opportunities a lot better. I thought that their goal-kicking was excellent. We’ve got no excuses, this performance from us wasn’t good enough.”