Despite a strong second half performance, Munster came up short in the Stade Marcel Deflandre this evening when they went down three tries to two for a 19-14 defeat to La Rochelle.
At one stage in the first half they trailed by 19 points, went in at the break down 19-7 but enjoyed the better of the second half exchanges that yielded the only try of that half from Ian Keatley.
At one stage in the first half they trailed by 19 points, went in at the break down 19-7 but enjoyed the better of the second half exchanges that yielded the only try of that half from Ian Keatley.
La Rochelle: B Dambielle; M Lebourhis, V Roux, J Jacquet, F Ninard; S Fauque, D Neveu; P Toderasc, F Pani, G Guyon; F Jacob, R Sazy; R Carmignani, P Som, T Soucaze. Replacements: B Geleden, T Leupolu, C Grobler, U Antonio, B Ferrou, I Rodriguez-Mudr, G Devade, S Clement, R Mohr, N Djebaili, A Vaeluaga-Toala, Q D'Aram De Valad, D Cler, S Barry, A Cestaro.
Munster: J Murphy; D Hurley, D Barnes (S Scanlon ht), S Deasy (JJ Hanrahan 52nd min), S Zebo; D Cusack (I Keatley ht), G Hurley (P Stringer ht); W du Preez (M Horan ht), D Varley (D Fogarty ht), S Archer (P Borlase ht); B Holland (I Nagle ht), M O'Driscoll; D O'Callaghan (P O'Mahony ht), T O'Donnell (N Ronan ht), J Coughlan capt (P Butler ht).