Glasgow Warriors 15 Munster 16
Munster extended their sequence of wins to six with a narrow victory over Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun last night.
But the league leaders had to endure the frustration of seeing their half-time lead whittled away and then being overtaken before outhalf Ian Keatley stepped up with a 77th minute drop goal that allowed the visitors to snatch the points.
Munster looked the likely winners in the first half with a ferociously strong performance by the forwards and unyielding defence that seemed to snuff the life out of Glasgow’s attack.
And no less impressive was the visitors’ offensive game.
Andrew Conway in particular at full back was full of inventive running, his try in the first half helped to open a substantial lead for the Thomond Park men.
Munster led 13-3 at the interval and seemed to be set for a comfortable win, only for Glasgow to finally find their rhythm.
The home side scored two second-half tries but failure to convert the second of these scores ultimately cost Warriors the spoils.
Opening exchanges
Munster looked the livelier in the opening exchanges. They moved the ball confidently and forced Glasgow to defend tenaciously resulting almost inevitably in a penalty award, converted into points by the trusted boot of outhalf Ian Keatley.
From the restart Munster again put Glasgow under pressure, winning a lineout on the Warriors’ 22 metre line.
From the resultant catch and drive the Munster forwards advanced the maul and when the ball was released Keatley put in a teasing cross kick, contested by both Peter Murchie and Darren Sweetnam, the Munster winger knocking the ball back for the supporting Conway to pounce on and score .
Keatley converted but at the other end Peter Horne, after missing with his first penalty attempt, goaled from a second effort off the tee.
Glasgow finally looked more purposeful with a break by inside centre Nick Grigg through midfield but sadly for Warriors, the move fizzled out without seriously threatening Munster’s line. Worse for Glasgow was an ankle injury to their outside half Horne resulting in replacement Rory Clegg taking the field in his stead.
Clegg immediately made a contribution with a long penalty kick to touch. At the ensuing lineout Dave Kilcoyne was penalised and shown the yellow card. But, from a potentially dangerous position near their own line, the visitors broke free with a surging run from Rory Scannell.
Glasgow countered with a break by Price and then good movement of the ball only for Mark Bennett to fluff his chip ahead. It was symptomatic of the Warriors’ woes and their inability to take advantage of their one-man advantage.
Still down to 14 men, Munster increased their lead with a second Keatley penalty goal to go in at half-time with a 13-3 advantage.
Dropped pass
Glasgow tried to narrow the gap early in the second half but a lost lineout and then a dropped pass did little for the home side’s confidence.
They received another blow as winger Rory Hughes retired with a leg injury to be replaced by Lee Jones.
The game seemed to be stuck in a stalemate and it desperately needed a bit of magic.
That was provided by Glasgow’s scrumhalf Ali Price who picked a line from the tail of a lineout to surge clear and score under the posts leaving Clegg with an easy conversion.
If one piece of magic lifted the crowd then a second sent them into ecstasy as Tommy Seymour sent Bennett racing to the line for Warriors’ second try, to give Glasgow the lead for the first time.
The stage was set for the final piece of drama as Munster worked their way down the field and, from recycled possession, Keatley took his chance to kick the winning drop-goal.
Scorers – Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Price; Bennett Cons: Clegg Pens Horne; Munster: Tries: Conway; Cons Keatley; Pens: Keatley (2) Drop goal: Keatley.
Glasgow Warriors: P Murchie; R Hughes (L Jones 44), M Bennett, N Grigg, T Seymour; P Horne (R Clegg 21), A Price (N Kenatale ); G Reid (A Allan 50), F Brown (C Flynn 50), S Puafisi (D Rae 60), T Swinson, R Harley, J Strauss (L Haupeakui 56), C Fusaro (R McAlpine 77), R Wilson.
Munster: A Conway; D Sweetnam, J Taute, R Scanell, R O'Mahony (R Copeland 56); I Keatley, D Williams (T Aihe Toma 64 ); D Kilcoyne (T du Toit ), N Scannell (R Marshall ), J Ryan (S Archer 60 ), J Kleyn (D Ryan ht), B Holland, P O'Mahony, T O'Donnell, J O'Donoghue.
Referee: N Owens (Wales).
