Munster secured a losing bonus point at Thomond Park with Toulouse claiming a narrow victory in the opening game of this season’s Champions Cup game.
The match was played on an extremely cold day with heavy fog making conditions difficult for both sides. Despite the conditions, a fantastic crowd of 21,884 supporters attended making it the largest crowd across round one of the Champions Cup.
The sides were level at 10-all at half-time but Toulouse scored the only try of the second half just after the break and kept Munster at bay for the remainder in the worsening conditions.
A Joey Carbery penalty hit the post with four minutes played after Munster launched a good early attack following a scrum penalty.
After Munster earned another penalty, they opted to go for the corner and Carbery dived over for the first try on nine minutes with good carries in the build-up from Shane Daly and Niall Scannell. Carbery added his own conversion to make it 7-0.
Toulouse won a scrum penalty on halfway after 22 minutes that gave them access to the Munster 22 for the first time.
They had a free play after Munster infringed in the maul and whipped the ball left and went through the hands superbly with Matthis Lebel scoring in the left corner despite Daly’s recovery tackle. Thomas Ramos converted to make it 7-7.
Antoine Dupont made a trademark break at the fringes of the ruck as Toulouse continued to grow into the game but the alert Calvin Nash made a crucial intercept to save Munster.
Ramos put Toulouse ahead for the first time on 29 minutes as Munster looked to attack from inside their own half but Jean Kleyn was penalised for not releasing.
Munster continued to play most of the rugby and were rewarded just before half-time as Toulouse were pinged at the breakdown with Carbery’s penalty making it 10-all.
A loose pass in midfield from Munster early in the second half gave Toulouse a great attacking platform as they kicked in behind and Antoine Frisch had to kick the ball out for a five-metre lineout.
The powerful Toulouse pack made a few hard yards with Dupont going down the blindside and passing for half-time replacement Lucas Tauzin to score in the right corner with his first touch.
With the fog getting thicker, the visitors were bombarding Munster with high balls and the majority of the second half was played in Munster territory.
Graham Rowntree’s team had a big opportunity when Alban Placines took out Mike Haley in the air with Rory Scannell nailing the penalty into the corner.
Toulouse infringed in the maul and Munster went to the corner again but the huge Toulouse pack held firm to win the turnover.
Trailing by five points, Munster needed to score next and were relieved to see a Ramos penalty drop short on 61 minutes after a maul penalty.
A harsh penalty against Munster saw Ramos kick Toulouse eight points ahead with eight minutes to go. The penalty came after Munster were on the attack but the ball went loose in the ruck and Toulouse countered. Jack O’Donoghue was the first man to the kick in behind and ran from deep. Toulouse made the tackle with O’Donoghue deemed to have held on with Ramos kicking the points to make it 18-10.
Munster kept going and won a penalty on 75 minutes inside the Toulouse 22 with Carbery kicking the points to make it a one-score game once again.
Dupont was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on with three minutes to go and Munster went on the attack again but Toulouse disrupted the breakdown and managed to see out the final minutes.
Champions Cup Round 1 Round-Up
John Ryan made his 50th Champions Cup appearance.
Craig Casey started in the Champions Cup for the first time while Paddy Patterson came on to make his Champions Cup debut.
Antoine Frisch made his first Champions Cup appearance for Munster.
Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Rory Scannell (Jack Crowley, 51), Shane Daly (Keith Earls, 68); Joey Carbery, Craig Casey (Paddy Patterson, 51); Jeremy Loughman (Josh Wycherley, 57), Niall Scannell (Diarmuid Barron, 57), John Ryan (Roman Salanoa, 57); Jean Kleyn (Jack O’Donoghue, 51), Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (C), John Hodnett (Alex Kendellen, 61), Gavin Coombes.