Munster win at 'fortress' Thomond
Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:47
Munster marked their return to Thomond Park with a hard earned 25-17 victory over Glasgow Warriors in their Magners League fixture on Saturday.
Conditions for both sides were made difficult by incessant rain.
However, the win not only keeps Munster's unbeaten run in the league intact - with five wins from five starts - but has them back at the top of the standings after Ospreys were in first place for a week.
Munster got off to the ideal start with a try from Peter Stringer after just two minutes - with the No.9 showing excellent awareness to pounce on a Warriors error. Ronan O'Gara converted.
O'Gara was again on the scoreboard after quarter of an hour when he slotted a penalty to put some distance between the two teams, though the gap was short-lived as stand-in Warriors' flyhalf Colin Gregor replied with a cleanly struck penalty, 10-3.
Having points on the board appeared to boost the confidence of the visitors and allowed Glasgow to establish a foothold in the tie - contesting the breakdown to much greater effect, meeting their opponents head on for the next 20 minutes.
Their hard work later paid off when Gregor made it two kicks from three on the half hour mark, 10-6 - which was also the interval lead.
The skilful Gregor produced a settled flyhalf performance, handling the pressure of the roudy Limerick crowd and kicking for possession with precision.
However, Glasgow's rise was dealt a massive blow when the Magners League's leading try scorer, Thom Evans, had to be substituted through injury - replaced by Hefin O'Hare.
O'Gara extended the lead with a 49th minute penalty and then Rua Tipoki threaded a lovely ball through for Barry Murphy to run onto, gather and score wide on the left. O'Gara drew the difficult conversion across the posts, but at 18-6 the home team was in charge.
Glasgow had to wait 20 minutes for their first score of the half which came through the boot of Gregor who added another just two minutes later after Munster were penalised for talking back to the referee, 18 – 12.
Despite managing to keep the game in reach, Glasgow lost their grip when Munster try-machine Doug Howlett collected the ball in all the space an All Black's record try scorer needs to cross the line for Munster's third of the afternoon. O'Gara converted, 25-12.
Increased Glasgow pressure allowed the Warriors' to take advantage of an overlap, putting O'Hare across the line unopposed at the corner for the last score of the match. Gregor missed the kick, 25 – 17.
The scorers:
For Munster:
Tries: Stringer, Murphy, Howlett
Cons: O'Gara 2
Pens: O'Gara 2
For Glasgow:
Try: O'Hare
Pens: Gregor 4
Teams:
Munster: 15 Keith Earls,
14 Doug Howlett, 13 Barry Murphy, 12 Rua Tipoki, 11 Anthony Horgan, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 David Wallace, 7 Justin Melck, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Paul O'Connell (captain), 5 Donnacha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Frankie Sheahan, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Niall Ronan, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Paul Warwick, 22 Kieran Lewis.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Bernardo Stortoni, 14 Lome Fa'atau, 13 Max Evans, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Colin Gregor, 9 Mark McMillan, 8 John Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (captain), 4 Opeta Palepoi, 3 Moray Low, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Justin Va'a.
Replacements: 17 Ed Kalman, 16 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Tim Barker, 19 Stevie Swindall, 20 Ruaridh Jackson, 21 Graeme Morrison, 22 Hefin O'Hare.
Referee: Andrew Small (England)
Touch judges: David Keane (Ireland),
Richard Kerr (Ireland)
TMO: Brian Fitzgerald (Ireland)
