Workmanlike Win Sends Munster Through As Second Seeds

Munster have a home Champions Cup quarter-final to look forward to in the spring after completing the double over Racing 92 with a 22-10 win at Thomond Park.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: MUNSTER 22 RACING 92 10

The Pool 1 winners, boasting the tournament’s best defence with just four tries conceded in the pool stages, advance as second seeds for the quarter-finals – in between the top-ranked Clermont Auvergne and defending champions Saracens.

Simon Zebo’s sixth try in four games against the Paris club broke the deadlock in the 36th minute with Benjamin Dambielle’s sin-binning proving costly. The latter’s half-back partner Maxime Machenaud closed the gap to 7-3 by half-time.

Beaten 32-7 by the same opposition at home a fortnight ago, Racing produced a much-improved performance in Limerick, hanging in there with a Henry Chavancy try in response to a Tyler Bleyendaal penalty and Ronan O’Mahony’s 48th-minute try.

But Rassie Erasmus’ men were not to be denied their fifth pool victory as Andrew Conway, who made his presence felt on the right wing, played in replacement Ian Keatley for the clinching 69th-minute try – his first in Europe for the province.

Racing assistant coach Ronan O’Gara returned to his old stamping ground and while the result did not got his way, the Munster legend was given a hero’s welcome by the appreciative home fans.

Racing’s revenge mission started on a solid footing, their scrum holding steady and full-back Brice Dulin exemplifying their eagerness to play with width.

Although the visitors dictated during the opening quarter, captain Machenaud missed his first kick at the posts and a promising Munster attack was spoiled when Ronan O’Mahony was tackled and then isolated.

Munster began to find their rhythm just past the 20-minute mark, opting for a scrum from a close-in penalty with Rory Scannell and Zebo subsequently threatening from a few metres out.

TMO Alan Falzone ruled out a potential try for Conor Murray after Matthieu Voisin did just enough to thwart the leaping Munster scrum half from a ruck, but out-half Dambielle, who had been swatted away by man-of-the-match CJ Stander on a muscular midfield break, soon saw yellow for a blatant ruck infringement near his own line.

Racing defended doggedly until Zebo wriggled over just to the right of the posts, touching down under a pile of bodies with Bleyendaal converting. The Ireland star had to reacted sharply to deny Marc Andreu at the other end, before a Machenaud penalty split the posts with the last kick of the half.

When play resumed, Bleyendaal restored Munster’s seven-point advantage after being hit with a high tackle by Leone Nakarawa, and clever tactical kicking from centre Scannell kept the hosts on the front foot.

The red-clad forwards responded by upping the intensity, continually getting over the gain-line before Bleyendaal and Scannell passed to the left where winger O’Mahony scrambled his way over for a seven-pointer.

However, Racing hung in there as they profited from Munster’s sloppiness, their usually reliable defence allowing centre Chavancy to carry hard and stretch out for the try-line. Following TMO confirmation, Machenaud converted for 17-10.

Munster had more in reserve, though, as O’Mahony almost scored from a lovely dink in behind by Murray and that elusive third try finally came when Conway did really well to draw in three defenders and release Keatley for a closing unconverted effort.

Relieved that his side finished their pool campaign on a winning note, Munster director of rugby Erasmus said: “It was a tough match physically, you could see Racing decided two weeks ago that they were turning their season around. Their performance against Leicester last week showed that.

“We are in the second half of the year and they want to get it right. Racing selected a team that was pretty close to full strength, so we knew it was going to be one of those games where they were going to have big moments and we would have to grind it out and try and handle their big moments. It was a good win at the end, but it certainly wasn’t the prettiest game.”

The South African added: “I think we are learning and cool heads showed at the end when we were calm enough to understand that we could have gone for the fourth try and by that secure the second seeding or just beat them by 11 points or more which we did.

“It was a good grind. To finish up as second seeds and to have the chance to try and go a little bit further, it shows the team is growing. If this was presented to us in June or July last year we would have said, ‘wonder, what a great season’.

“The trick now is not to say that. The trick now is to say, ‘listen, we are in a position now to go a little bit further’. Let’s try and see how the injuries are, how the guys come through the Six Nations and back into the PRO12 and see what squad we have available when we get into the quarter-finals.”