Soon after Munster conceded a late penalty in Stade Felix Mayol last Sunday and fullback Marius Domon stepped up to kick the three points, hopes of beating Toulon died and captain Tadhg Beirne found himself answering questions looking ahead to their final Champions Cup pool match against Castres this Saturday.
“We probably have to win with a bonus point,” he said. Beirne didn’t need to do the permutations, a bonus-point win in Thomond Park is Munster’s challenge if they want to be certain of advancing to the knockout phases.
It’s not the first time in Munster’s history that their backs have been to the wall, needing to win, sometimes against the odds, to stay alive in a competition.
Over the years it has become a defining characteristic of the province to somehow find a way through. On Saturday in Limerick at 5.30pm, Munster get the chance to do it again.
READ MORE
How did Leinster pull off their win against La Rochelle?
January 18th, 2003: Munster 33-6 Gloucester
Facing into the final round of pool games, the prescription for Munster’s match against Gloucester in Thomond Park was specific.
They had to beat the English side, who were leading the Premiership, by four tries and a minimum of 27 points to progress. Otherwise, they were out of the competition.
Did the players know the precise permutations before they started? Heck no.
“None of us had a clue 27 points was what we needed,” Ronan O’Gara admitted afterwards.
Gloucester were crushed at the set pieces, their lineout fell to bits and, as the pressure mounted, they began to argue among themselves as Munster were rampant, especially after the break.
In search of tries, they shunned kickable penalties, preferring to hammer away at the Gloucester defence and as the minutes ticked away they nudged closer and closer to the target.
O’Gara put John Kelly over for his second score in the final minute for 31-6. Then he took the ball and, from the right-hand 15-metre line, nailed the conversion.
At the restart, Donncha O’Callaghan secured possession and O’Gara sent it sailing out to end it 33-6. Chaos. Munster had their astonishing 27-point winning margin. The miracle match.
January 20th, 2013: Munster 29-6 Racing 92
Racing played without Antoine Battut for 74 minutes, the flanker earning an early red card, and Simon Zebo scored a hat-trick.
At the end of it all, it was double joy for five-try Munster as they leapfrogged arch rivals Leinster into the second best runners-up spot, all without Ronan O’Gara, who was on a one-week suspension for committing “a petulant act that was out of character” against Edinburgh’s Sean Cox the previous week.
Munster started the day with adrenaline pumping at Thomond Park, needing a bonus-point win to have any chance of qualifying for the quarter-final.
Three first-half tries – from Zebo, Conor Murray and hooker Mike Sherry – handed them a deserved 17-6 half-time lead before Gaetan Germain landed a couple of penalties for the visitors.
But Munster, stepping on the gas, took their try count to five as man of the match Zebo grabbed his second European hat-trick.
There was still jeopardy for Munster as their quarter-final place was not fully secured. If Leicester defeated Toulouse in the final round of matches and Toulouse earned two bonus points, the French side would have leapfrogged Munster as one of the two best runners-up.
Leicester did beat Toulouse, but only by 9-5, which cleared the way for Munster to earn a place in the last eight against Harlequins at The Stoop. Munster went on to win in London before falling 16-10 in the semi-final away to Clermont.
March 31st, 2018: Munster 20-19 Toulon
Peter O’Mahony won man of the match and a late wonder try from Andrew Conway earned Munster the narrowest win over Toulon after a pulsating Champions Cup quarter-final.
England winger Chris Ashton had scored Toulon’s only try in the 64th minute, with the rest of the French side’s points coming from the boots of Francois Trin-Duc and Anthony Belleau.
Conor Murray touched down for Munster after 27 minutes, with Ian Keatley kicking the other points as the province trailed 13-19 with six minutes remaining.
Then, in the 74th minute, Toulon booted a long relieving kick from their 22, almost up to Munster’s 22. Conway, making sure his feet were inside the touchline line, reached far over and caught the ball with two hands before it hit the ground. He then took off up the field.
Keeping to the left of the pitch for his first few strides, he broke inside where he knifed through a clutch of bodies moving forward after the ball.
He straightened up, sprinting into Toulon’s 22 before sharply stepping to the right infield as Ashton came out to make the tackle. He felt the fabric of Conway’s socks but no more than that as the Munster winger scampered in under the posts, leaving Keatley to convert for a 20-19 win.
