Munster’s 23-17 win over Scarlets in front of a near 5000 crowd at Musgrave Park moves them to third in the table and right back into contention for the knock out stages
It was far from convincing against a resolute Scarlets side but nevertheless impressive for the commitment and courage shown by the home side particularly in the closing stages as they defended their narrow lead.
And if leading by example led to ultimate success on the night then skipper Mick O’Driscoll deserves huge praise. Alongside Billy Holland who continues to impress, he was ever willing to take ball on and lay his body on the line and was involved in all that was good about his side’s effort. Besides him, it would be interesting to see the stats on the tackle count for Jean de Villiers and Tom Gleeson who both were responsible for stemming countless Scarlet forays while James Coughlan capped a fine performance with a try and Scott Deasy at full back fully deserved his Toyota Man of the Match Award.
Scarlets had the perfect start with a try from Rhys Priestland that originated on his own 22 when he blocked an attempted Paul Warwick kick and ran the length of the field to score in the right hand corner. He missed the difficult conversion as Munster gathered under their posts holding a summit meeting with less than three minutes on the new scoreboard.
The response was immediate and Warwick’s conversion of de Villiers try four minutes later gave Munster the lead but Priestland restored Scarlets advantage with a 37th minute penalty.
A late burst of Munster pressure was kicked off by a Warwick penalty two minutes later when Deacon Manu was penalised and yellow carded for a tug on a Munster jersey as they threatened the Scarlets line and in injury time Coughlan had his hard work rewarded with a try close to the posts.
If the second half was less than entertaining it was nevertheless compelling as Scarlets refused to buckle. It ended up being a scoring competition between Warwick and Priestland and if the Welshman won that personal battle 3-2, Munster won the match thanks to those opening half tries and a resolute second half performance.
Munster: S Deasy; D Howlett, T Gleeson, J de Villiers, I Dowling; P Warwick, P Stringer; M Horan, D Varley,J Brugnaut; B Holland, M O’Driscoll capt; N Williams, N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Hurley for Howlett (53 mins), D Ryan for Brugnaut, D Fogarty for Varley (both 60 mins), D Williams for Stringer, A Quinlan for N Williams (both 65 mins), T O’Donnell for Ronan (72 mins), J Manning for D Williams (75 mins)
Scarlets: D Newton; J Ajuwa, R King, J Davies, A Fenby; R Priestland, T Knoyle; I Thomas, K Owens, D Manu; L Reed, D Day; J Turnbull, R Pugh, D Lyons (capt). Replacements: P John for Turnbull (40-50 mins), D Evans for Newton (53 mins), R McCusker for Pugh (61 mins), D Evans for R King (67 mins), P John for Owens, M Roberts for Knoyle (both 70 mins)
Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)