Warwick puts the boot into Scarlets
Sat, 03 May 2008 20:35
For the second week in a row the Llanelli Scarlets suffered defeat in the dying seconds of a Magners League encounter.
This time it was replacement flyhalf Paul Warwick who sent the dagger through the Scarlets hearts with a mammoth penalty, to secure Munster a 24-23 victory at Stradey Park on Saturday.
In what has been a challenging week at Llanelli, with Director of Rugby Phil Davies exiting, the makeshift partnership of Paul Moriarty and Robert Jones must have thought they had done enough.
Scarlets, at one stage, were leading 20-8, but Munster showed why they are one of the top teams in Europe with an impressive comeback.
The visitors got out of the blocks immediately with winger Ian Dowling scorching down the North Stand touchline from halfway. Despite the best efforts of Morgan Stoddart the speedster managed to force the ball down.
Stephen Jones hit back straight away with a close range penalty and only seconds later he had an opportunity to put the Scarlets in front, but his shot from halfway narrowly went wide.
Both sides threatened with the ball in hand, but the Scarlets had to settle for another Jones penalty to hit the lead at 6-5 after Munster flanker David Wallace was sent to the sin-bin.
The Scarlets then put themselves in a strong position with two tries within three minutes of each other.
First Dafydd James dived over after a bright Scarlets move, then Matthew Watkins produced a dazzling solo effort leaving a trail of tacklers in his wake.
With Jones adding both conversions, the home side had shot out to a 20-5 lead.
Munster then showed why they are a force to be reckoned with.
They camped on the Scarlets line for several minutes, but heroic defence held them at bay. Only a last ditch tackle by Watkins denied Wallace a five-pointer under the posts as the home side kept their tryline intact until half-time.
Having already missed a sitter, O'Gara made amends with a penalty four minutes into the second half to cut the deficit to 12 points.
Munster then applied the blowtorch.
Jones failed to find touch and the men in red flew down the touchline. Federico Pucciariello's pass to Dowling looked forward but the winger didn't hang around for the whistle to blow as he scored his second try of the match wide out.
Munster made further inroads into the Scarlets lead when Warwick rifled over a penalty and nerves began to fray even further when he followed up with a try wide out four minutes into injury time.
Play continued and when Lou Reed was sent to the sin bin nine minutes into injury time, Warwick stepped up and hammered home the final nail into the coffin with a huge kick from inside his own half to seal a miserable week in Scarletsville.
The scorers:
For Llanelli Scarlets:
Tries: James, Watkins
Cons:
Stephen Jones 2
Pens: Stephen Jones 3
For Munster:
Tries: Dowling 2, Warwick
Pens: O'Gara, Warwick 2
Yellow cards: Lou Reed (Llanelli Scarlets, 80), David Wallace (Munster, 21)
The teams:
Llanelli Scarlets: 15 Morgan Stoddart, 14 Dafydd James, 13 Gavin Evans, 12 Nathan Brew, 11 Matthew Watkins, 10 Stephen Jones (captain), 9 Gavin Cattle, 8 Nathan Thomas, 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Scott MacLeod, 4 Vernon Cooper, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Phil John, 17 Mahonri Schwalger, 18 Lou Reed, 19 James Bater, 20 Liam Davies, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Darren Daniel.
Munster: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Lifeimi Mafi, 12 Rua Tipoki, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Paul
O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Frank Sheahan, 17 Federico Pucciariello, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paul Warwick, 22 Anthony Horgan.
Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU)
Touch Judges: Jon Mason (WRU), Alan Jenkins (WRU)
