Fourteen-man Munster survive late Connacht rally to secure vital bonus-point victory in Castlebar
Munster players, including Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes, Jack Crowley and John Hodnett, celebrate their side's first try, scored by Tom Ahern, right. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Munster survived a late Connacht rally to hang on for a bonus-point victory in Mayo that bolsters their hopes for the end-of-season play-offs.
On an afternoon in which Connacht made history in front of a provincial record 27,870 crowd on their historic first fixture at MacHale Park, they came up just short and damaged their own play-off hopes as they failed to take advantage of Munster indiscipline.
Alex Nankivell was red-carded on 25 minutes, and the visitors played 11 minutes with just 13 men following second-half yellows for Tadhg Beirne on 61 and Niall Scannell on 79 minutes.
Numbers aside, Munster had their returning internationals and fit-again stars to thank for this rebound form back-to-back defeats, Craig Casey marking his comeback from a three-month knee injury absence with a try and assist for Ireland fly-half and man of the match Jack Crowley.
Jean Kleyn’s return off the bench after five months on the sidelines produced a potentially game-clinching lineout steal at the death as Connacht pressed to overturn a six-point deficit from inside the opposition’s 22.
Nankivell had seen red from referee Craig Evans after a no-arms high tackle which resulted in Connacht captain Cian Prendergast leaving the game on a stretcher cart and in a neck brace and he had tries from Tom Ahern, Casey, Crowley and Diarmuid Barron to save his blushes, though the centre will likely miss next Saturday’s Champions Cup Round of 16 trip to Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle.
Otherwise, the return of their internationals and comebacks for Casey, Kleyn and Oli Jager from injury proved to be perfect timing.
Both provinces had been able to recall their frontline Ireland internationals following post-Six Nations breaks.
Bundee Aki, Finlay Bealham, Mack Hansen and Prendergast returned for Connacht while Munster welcomed back captain Beirne, Crowley and Calvin Nash to their starting line-up, with Conor Murray on the bench as the veteran scrum-half made his 200th appearance.
When Nankivell was red-carded on 25 minutes, the visitors were 15-5 ahead having taken an 8-0 lead through a Crowley penalty and Ahern’s 12th-minute try in the left corner.
Connacht hit back eight minutes later, rewarded for their goal-line pressure with a mail penalty, which was tapped from five metres out by hooker Dave Heffernan.
The ball found Bealham who fed No.8 Sean Jansen to score.
Josh Ioane’s touchline conversion indicated the uphill task of kicking into a stiff breeze, his effort coming up well short of the posts and Munster capitalised on 23 minutes when Casey marked his comeback with his side’s second try.
Nash had broken down the left wing and his pass inside found the scrum-half to run in unopposed, Crowley’s conversion opening a 10-point lead for the men in red after 23 minutes.
Yet the visitors were hit by the loss of openside flanker John Hodnett to an injury and then went down a man after Nankivell’s cleanout had ended Prendergast’s involvement.
Connacht failed to make their numerical advantage count for the rest of the first half and conceded a penalty to Crowley as Munster got to the interval with a 13-point lead at 18-5.
Yet with the wind at their backs, the home side started the second period strongly and after an initial attack was stymied by a loose pass, they got their breakthrough four minutes after the restart.
Connacht broke through left wing Finn Treacy and exploited their two-on-one mismatch to good effect, the pass well-timed for Blade to run in under the posts, Ioane’s conversion closing the gap to 18-12.
It took six minutes for Munster to find a response and it came through the returning half-backs after their forward pack had stretched the Connacht goal-line defence, Casey sending a bullet pass across his team-mates to find Crowley, who evaded the first tackle to run in for the away team’s third try of the match.
The fly-half duly converted his own try from close to the posts and Munster were 25-12 to the good with 28 minutes remaining.
The sight of Kleyn returning off the bench added another boost to Munster’s mood as he replaced Fineen Wycherley in the 56th minute, Stephen Archer replacing Jager as the tighthead prop successfully negotiated his first outing in four weeks.
It got even better for Munster when hooker Diarmuid Barron secured the try bonus point on 58 minutes, extending the lead to 30-12 but Connacht were not out of it by any means. More pressure from the home side saw Beirne yellow carded just after the hour mark and Connacht scored from the subsequent tap penalty against their 13-man opponents.
Jansen claimed his second try and replacement fly-half JJ Hanrahan slotting the penalty against his home province, whom he will be rejoining this summer.
That made it 30-19 but Munster quickly regained the momentum and missed out on a fifth try when Alex Kendellen knocked on at the goal-line.
That looked to have proved costly as Connacht rallied with a 72nd-minute try from Ioane, although Hanrahan striking an upright with his conversion attempt.
And there was further anxiety for Munster when replacement hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin charged over for what appeared to be Connacht’s bonus-point try on 77 minutes. That would have made the score 30-29 with a conversion, but a TMO check spotted a dangerous tackle on Gavin Coombes by Bundee Aki.
Aki was on the other end of indiscipline moments later when replacement Niall Scannell was yellow-carded for a dangerous clearout but Connacht’s hopes of glory were denied at the death when the lineout from the resulting penalty was stolen by Kleyn.
Munster had survived and so have their play-off hopes with four matches remaining.
M Hansen; C Mullins (S Cordero, 6; JJ Hanrahan, 53), H Gavin, B Aki, F Treacy; J Ioane, C Blade (M Devine, 53); J Duggan (D Buckley, 57), D Heffernan (D Tierney-Martin, 59), F Bealham (J Aungier, 57); J Joyce (P Boyle, 57), D Murray; C Prendergast – captain (J Murphy, 25), S Hurley-Langton, S Jansen.
B O'Connor; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, S O'Brien; J Crowley, C Casey (C Murray, 67); J Loughman (J Wycherley, 60), D Barron (N Scannell, 60), O Jager (S Archer, 56); F Wycherley (J Kleyn, 56), T Beirne – captain; T Ahern, J Hodnett (A Kendellen, 24; R Quinn, 67), G Coombes.
A Nankivell – 25 mins
T Beirne – 61-71 mins; N Scannell – 79 mins
Craig Evans (Wales)
