Cardiff Blues 13 Munster 18:MUNSTER'S ABILITY to carve out victory from near impossible situations was emphasised at Cardiff City Stadium last night as they made it four wins from four in the RaboDirect PRO12.
Tony McGahan’s men never trailed, yet it was Cardiff who enjoyed the bulk of possession throughout but were unable to break down a superb Munster rearguard, although there was a nervous finish with Ian Keatley in the bin and Munster frantically defending their lead.
Cardiff kicked a penalty to the right corner and then went wide but just when it seemed the try was on, Dan Fish sent a forward pass to Alex Cuthbert.
Cardiff dominated the opening half in possession terms but it was Munster who led 12-3 at the interval.
The visitors’ line led a charmed life in that opening quarter as the TMO was twice called into action in little over a minute in the opening quarter, with both decisions going Munster’s way. Keatley kicked four penalties as Ceri Sweeney finally found his range.
Munster’s proud defensive record was finally smashed four minutes after the restart when they conceded their first try of the season as Cuthbert went through from deep to score on the right.
Sweeney added the difficult conversion to make it 12-10 after 44 minutes but the Munster response was immediate, Keatley slotting a penalty from 40 metres. He pushed Munster 18-10 in front after 58 minutes with another kick.
But Cardiff once more took over and forced Munster on the back-foot, Sweeney pulled back another penalty under the posts after 70 minutes. That set up a frantic closing as Cardiff came in waves but Munster held on to the finish.
CARDIFF BLUES: D Fish; A Cuthbert, G Evans, D Hewitt, R Mustoe; C Sweeney, R Rees; S Hobbs, R Thomas, S Andrews; P Tito, S Jones; M Paterson, M Molitika, X Rush. Replacements: C Laulala for Hewitt, L Jones for Rees (both 53 mins), J Down for Tito (61 mins), N Trevett for Andrews, R Harford for Hobbs (both 68 mins), T Young for Paterson (73 mins).
MUNSTER: J Murphy; D Howlett, D Barnes, L Mafi, D Hurley; I Keatley, D Williams; W du Preez, M Sherry, S Archer; B Holland, M O’Driscoll; P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan. Replacements: N Ronan for Coughlan (29 mins), P Stringer for Williams (51 mins), D Fogarty for Sherry (53 mins), D Foley for O’Mahony (56 mins), T Gleeson for Barnes (66 mins), J Hayes for Archer (69 mins), J Ryan for du Preez (77 mins).
Referee: D Wilkinson (IRFU).
