Brave Connacht have to settle for a bonus point

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Written by John Fallon

Wednesday, 03 January 2007

Connacht's hopes of a first ever win over Munster in the professional era went by the wayside in appalling conditions at the Sportsground on New Year's Eve when the Heineken Cup champions rolled out their big guns to salvage the day.

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Connacht 8 - Munster 14

The half-time introduction of Ronan O'Gara, Paul O'Connell, John Hayes and Trevor Halstead was the key difference between the sides on an evening when the appalling weather almost made the match unplayable.

Connacht had put themselves into a winning position when they opened up an 8-6 lead five minutes in the second-half. By then they had the wind at their backs and Munster were down to thirteen men.

But Munster then showed exactly why they are champions of Europe. They held Connacht until they had fifteen men restored and then played flawless possession rugby. It was a bitterly disappointing outcome for a brave Connacht effort, but the sheer class of the winners needs to be acknowledged.

The superb condition of the Sportsground surface ensured the match went ahead but a galeforce wind and driving rain ruined any prospect of good rugby for the capacity 4,560 crowd.

Munster, having played with the wind in the opening half, looked to be in serious trouble when they were reduced temporally to thirteen men and fell 8-6 behind in the early stages of the second-half.

Former Connacht favourite John O'Sullivan was binned just before the interval for killing the ball, as Munster turned around defending a slender 6-3 lead.

Then five minutes after the restart Connacht hit the front. A throw from skipper John Fogarty went astray but in the confusion Connacht flanker Ray Ofisa pounced to touch down.

Munster contested the decision, claiming the throw was crooked and they were entitled to a scrum, but the score stood and O'Gara was binned for dissent.

But Munster went back to basics. They seized control of the ball and just starved Connacht of possession. They built phase after phase and just wore Connacht down.

Connacht, for their part, had done the same thing to Munster in the opening half when facing the galeforce wind. They fought doggedly for every ball around the fringes and defended with purpose and discipline.

The net result was that Munster made little inroads despite the wind and rain at their backs and had to be content with two Jeremy Manning penalties after 24 and 32 minutes.

Indeed, it was Connacht who had edged ahead with a superb driving maul down the right brought them within scoring range and when Munster inevitably brought it down, Mark McHugh kicked the 20 metres penalty.

Munster rarely looked like scoring a try in the opening half and it took the intervention of Christian Cullen to deprive Chris Keane just two minutes after the restart as Connacht upped the ante.

Ofisa's try put them in with a great chance of their first win over Munster since 1986 but they could not hold on to the ball, losing a handful of their own lineouts and not making the necessary ground with their kicks.

It was bread and butter stuff to Munster with O'Connell, in particular, leading the way as they surged forward time and again. The confidence in their own ability to retain possession stood well to them.

They forced a series of scrums inside the Connacht 22 and then Peter Stringer broke blindside to put Tomas O'Leary over in the right corner after 57 minutes for the game's decisive score.

O'Gara made a brave but futile effort with the touchline conversion into the gale and he then missed one from in front of the posts after 68 minutes.

But Connacht were just not able to make the break count. Having lost David Gannon to injury after 13 minutes, they then lost Keith Matthews in the final five minutes with a cruciate knee injury which looks set to rule him out for the rest of the season.

Munster continued to be patient in possession and continued to do the simple things well.

They got another fine drive going three minutes from time which forced Connacht to concede in front of their own posts and O'Gara duly obliged to put six points between them.

That still left Munster open to the prospect of losing to a late converted try but Connacht were just unable to build the phases and in the end had to settle for a bonus point.

SCORERS:

Connacht:

Try: Ofisa

Pen: McHugh

Munster:

Try: O'Leary

Pens: Manning (2), O'Gara

Connacht: D Riordan; D Yapp, P Warwick, G Williams, K Matthews; M McHugh, C Keane; B Wilkinson, J Fogarty, S Knoop; D Gannon, A Farley; J Muldoon, R Ofisa, C Rigney.

Replacements: M Swift for Gannon, 13 mins; B Sturgess for Knoop, 60 mins; A Flavin for Fogarty, 62 mins; M Lacey for Ofisa, 70 mins; J Hearty for Matthews, 75 mins; T Robinson for Wilkinson, 79 mins.

Munster: C Cullen; T O'Leary, B Murphy, L Mafi, S Payne; J Manning, P Stringer; D Hurley, F Sheahan, F Pucciariello; D O'Callaghan, C Wyatt; J O'Sullivan, D Wallace, J Coughlan.

Replacements: P O'Connell for Wyatt, half-time; R O'Gara for Manning, half-time; T Halstead for Murphy, half-time; J Hayes for Hurley, half-time; D Leamy for Pucciariello, 82 mins.

Referee: D Keane (IRFU).

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