Connacht wounded in mind and body

MAGNERS LEAGUE Connacht 12 Munster 18:THEY MAY have had an unfamiliar, callow look to them, but this was still Munster, and there were enough of the old dogs to guide the tyros through.

Only their second away win in the league, few victories will have given them more satisfaction than this, which moves them into third behind the Ospreys on points difference. They face the Welsh in Limerick next Saturday in their penultimate game.

For Connacht, the wounds, both mental and physical, will be considerable as they contemplate hosting Leinster here on Wednesday evening.

But the sense of opportunity knocking in front of a huge and expectant crowd on a lovely day in the west brought an anxiousness to their play.

Matching the losing point achieved so fortuitously by Ulster on Friday night will be of scant consolation. They remain four points adrift of the Ulstermen in the battle for the third Heineken Cup spot, albeit with that game against Leinster in hand, but that is effectively five given their inferior points difference.

As usual, the collisions ruled, particularly as referee Alain Rolland permitted a full contest in the breakdown. It almost looked a different sport to Super 14. To the acute frustration of home team and crowd alike, Munster players appeared to continuously put themselves on the wrong side of the ball.

From the outset Munster’s policy was clearly to target Connacht ball-carriers in the tackle, thereby using the huge physical strength of the outstanding James Coughlan, Nick Williams and Tony Buckley. Niall Ronan, too, came up with his customary quotient of effective or big plays.

Connacht coughed up at least a dozen balls in contact, and with Munster superbly organised defensively, Connacht were obliged to commit more and more players to retain possession as the game progressed.

Scrumhalfs Peter Stringer and Frank Murphy are clearly not on each other’s Christmas card lists, dating back to their rivalry at Munster, and though Murphy had the better of last season’s set-to, Stringer was the master here. His decision-making, and the swiftness and unstinting accuracy of his pass, remains a thing of beauty.

Paul Warwick, who wore 12 but effectively played outhalf, flourished with the silver-salver service.

Optimism was high among the home support that had the Sportsground bursting at the seams, but it quickly became evident Munster were in no mood to roll over.

From the off their pack fronted up, and Warwick, back on familiar terrain from his four years here with Connacht, quickly settled into his old routine by opening the scoring after John Muldoon was penalised for going over the top.

Declan Cusack – one of three debutants in the Munster backline – played at centre while occasionally stepping in as first receiver off phased possession.

After Cusack was wide with a drop goal, Warwick doubled the lead when Michael Swift was penalised for holding on.

The ex-Connacht man then pinned his old team deep into their territory with a sweet touchfinder. Whereupon, just like that, Connacht broke upfield for the first time and took the lead.

Fionn Carr gathered a loose ball from Murphy’s kick ahead and fed Ian Keatley for a kick, chase and tackle. Seán Cronin took a strong line off the recycle, and Johnny O’Connor then took an equally good one from depth to score off Niva Ta’auso’s offload.

Keatley landed the difficult conversion, but, with Coughlan leading the way, Munster resumed their offensive.

Although Stringer was nailed by Cronin off Keatley’s deflected grubber, Williams bounced two players off the recycle and offloaded to Buckley on the charge. There are few more fearsome sights in Irish rugby, and though well-tackled by Gavin Duffy, again Stringer moved the ball away swiftly for Warwick to straighten, draw in two defenders and give Ronan a clear run to the line.

Not much changed upon the resumption. Duffy lost the ball in the tackle and Deasy fielded his own high kick to put Munster on the front foot. Denis Fogarty took it up, and off Stringer’s lightening service Warwick’s skip pass and soft hands by Coughlan enabled one of the debutants, Simon Zebo, to break the line, draw the last man and put Deasy over. Warwick converted for an 18-7 lead.

Connacht had to withstand another barrage on their line, Muldoon holding up Billy Holland and then combining with Ronan Loughney for an offensive double hit before Michael McCarthy worked a turnover.

But Zebo was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on in the ensuing counter-attack, and Connacht cranked up the pressure through a plethora of phases. Murphy twice had to get the ball away under pressure, George Naoupu gathering and speeding past Dave Foley before side-stepping Danny Barnes to reach out for the touchdown.

Connacht pounded away for much of the last quarter, their scrum increasingly on top but yielding no reward, despite the Munster frontrow popping up twice in front of their posts. In the entire 80 minutes, Connacht were awarded only one penalty in the opposition half.

Michael Bradley emptied his bench and Conor O’Loughlin sniped through off a well-worked lineout, but stumbled before the last man and the line.

Munster kept their shape and discipline defensively to hold out.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 3 mins: Warwick pen 0-3; 10: Warwick pen 0-6; 13: O'Connor try, Keatley con 7-6; 31: Ronan try 7-11; (half-time); 43: Deasy try, Warwick con 7-18; 60: Naoupu try 12-18.

CONNACHT: G Duffy; T Nathan, N Ta'auso, K Matthews, F Carr; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, J Hagan, M Swift, B Upton, J Muldoon (capt), J O'Connor, G Naoupu. Replacements: R Loughney for Wilkinson, M Nikora for Keatley (both 48 mins), M McCarthy for Swfit (49 mins), Wilkinson for Hagan (57 mins), A Flavin for Cronin (62 mins), M McComish for Muldoon, C O'Loughlin for Murphy, A Wynne for Ta'auso (all 72 mins).

MUNSTER: S Deasy; D Barnes, T Gleeson, P Warwick, S Zebo; D Cusack, P Stringer; D Ryan, D Varley, T Buckley; B Holland, M O'Driscoll (capt); N Williams, N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: C Murray for Stringer (48-49 mins), D Foley for Williams (53 mins), D Fogarty for Varley (62 mins), P O'Mahoney for Holland (67 mins). Not used: J Brugnaut, S Scanlon.

Referee: Alain Rolland(IRFU).