Rugby/Celtic League Munster 25 Glasgow 19: Another unimpressive display by Munster means they have fallen eight points behind the Ospreys at the top of the Celtic League table and, even if they have a game in hand, it is unlikely that they will be able to make up the leeway if they continue to perform as poorly as they did against Glasgow at Thomond Park last night.
They won comfortably enough by 25-19 but the opposition was limited and a Munster side containing 11 internationals was unable to claim the four tries that would have given them an invaluable bonus point. To be fair they weren't helped by an extremely fussy display of refereeing by the South African Jonathan Caplan, who will also be in charge of next Sunday's Ireland-England Six nations encounter.
Caplan whistled Munster virtually off the pitch in the first half when he had the 5,000-strong crowd screaming in exasperation. Had outhalf Calvin Howarth brought along his kicking boots then Glasgow could have been out of sight at half-time instead of leading by only 16-8.
Howarth landed two penalties in the first ten minutes and although Paul Burke pulled back three points for Munster, Glasgow imposed strong pressure and deservedly stretched their lead when second row Dan Turner thundered over for a fine try which Howarth converted.
When Caplan reversed a penalty to Munster, apparently for backchat, Howarth hit the post from near halfway, and missed two more efforts before the interval while also finding the target on 24 minutes to put his side 16-3 ahead.
The only bright moment of the first half for Munster came after 27 minutes when heavy pressure was rewarded with a try for centre Jason Holland and they duly turned over 16-8 behind.
Munster went on to dominate the second half territorially without ever imposing their will on the game. Burke immediately narrowed the gap on the restart and then added the points to a try by Alan Quinlan following a rolling maul to put his side in front for the first time at 18-16 after 52 minutes.
Munster coach Alan Gaffney introduced Rod Henderson at centre for Jason Holland after 68 minutes and he was hardly on the pitch when he injected the kind of penetration that had been sadly lacking beforehand. He broke clean through the defence before delivering a perfect scoring pass for James Storey. Burke converted and it looked a certainty that Munster would now go on to claim the bonus point.
Instead, Glasgow held them out without undue difficulty and got the bonus themselves when Howarth cut the gap to six points deep into stoppage time. Making it even more disappointing for Munster was the hamstring injury picked up by flanker Denis Leamy.
MUNSTER: C Cullen; J Kelly, J Storey, J Holland, A Horgan; P Burke, E Reddan; M Horan, F Sheahan, G McIlwham, T Hogan, D O'Callaghan, A Quinlan, D Leamy, D Wallace. Replacements: J Williams for Leamy (70 mins); R Henderson for Holland (66 mins).
GLASGOW: C Shaw; R Lamont, G Morrison, S Barrow, G McLure; C Howarth, G Beveridge; K Tkachuk, S Lawson, A Kelly, J Beardshaw, D Turner, S Swindall, C Mather, P Dearlove. Replacements: A Henderson for Barrow (50 mins); A Hall for Beardshaw (55 mins).
Referee: J Caplan (South Africa)
