5th January 2013
Munster 6
Cardiff 17
This was not how the
script was meant to pan out.
It was the night that
Ronan O’Gara became Munster’s most capped player making his 234th
appearance in all competitions in his home ground of Musgrave Park. Munster were also due to beat the travel sick
Welsh side fairly comfortably and set themselves up nicely for their crucial
Heineken Cup double header against Edinburgh and Racing Metro over the next
fortnight. And the perception was that
the Blues would be the lambs to the slaughter which they have been for most of
this season on their travels and no more so than in their inept performance
against Leinster at the RDS in late October.
However, due to a
combination of Cardiff not reading the script and Munster performing well under
par, making a number of unforced errors and with a general malaise that spread
through the team, the visitors ran out somewhat easy winners in the end and
even denied Munster the losing bonus point which could be crucial towards the
business end of the season.
It was hard to fathom
from a Munster point of view as to how this game turned out as it did. O’Gara controlled matters from the boot
throughout and penned the Welsh side back in the corners as he has done on so
many occasions in his illustrious career.
The Munster scrum was also on top for the majority of the game and their
lineout functioned efficiently even though Mike Sherry had to go off injured
early in the game to be replaced by Sean Henry.
However, due to the mounting error count the home side could never make
their set piece or territorial dominance count and credit must go to Cardiff
for taking their opportunities when they came around and by the end Munster had
run out of ideas and the Blues were comfortable winners.
Munster made a number
of changes from the team that defeated Ulster at Thomond Park last
weekend. Both Donncha Ryan and Tommy
O’Donnell were the only surviving members of the pack, O’Gara returned for Ian
Keatley at outhalf, Keith Earls returned to partner James Downey at outside
centre and Denis Hurley was a late call up for Johne Murphy who had to cry off
with a hamstring injury.
After much shadow
boxing between both sides in the early exchanges, it was the away side who had
the first scoring opportunity of the game.
After Munster pressure in the Cardiff 22, the ball was spilled and fly
hacked down the field. Outhalf Rys
Patchell outpaced Dougie Howlett to the chase, but after a poor soccer touch
with the line at his mercy, it afforded the retreating Donncha Ryan the
opportunity to slide in and carry the ball in to touch. However, from the resulting Cardiff lineout,
the home side were penalised for taking out the support lifters, and outhalf Patchell
made no mistake to give Cardiff the lead at 3-0.
The Cardiff backrow
were showing they were well up for the fight at this stage and they nearly
extended their lead in the 14th minute when Robin Copeland made a
great break from the base of a ruck and it took an equally good cover tackle
from fullback Felix Jones to force a knock on and relieve the pressure. Munster scrum half Conor Murray was injured
in this phase of play and he was replaced by Duncan Williams.
With the home crowd
now trying to lift their team, Munster made their scrum dominance count in the
20th minute when Cardiff were penalised for collapsing in their own
22. O’Gara converted and the sides were
now level at 3-3.
Mike Sherry, who had
also received a knock in the same phase that forced Murray off, was taken off
as a precaution in the 24th minute with Sean Henry coming on to
replace him. Munster were continuing to
go wide at every opportunity at this stage which was commendable but as the
unforced errors continued to mount, they seemed to be undoing all their good
work.
Patchell had a further
opportunity to give Cardiff the lead in the 29th minute but he was
right and wide with a drop goal attempt.
And with half time approaching, centre James Downey ran hard and
straight to make some significant yards and after offloading to James Coughlan,
he was unlucky to put a foot in touch with the try line yawning.
Both sides retreated
therefore to the dressing rooms on level terms with Cardiff obviously the happier
side and sensing that there was a great opportunity for them to record their
first away victory against Munster since they defeated them at the same venue
back in 2007.
And they got off to
the perfect start at the beginning of the second half. After Munster were penalised for not rolling
away, Patchell kicked down the line and Cardiff had a good attacking position
in the Munster half. From the resultant
line out centre Jamie Roberts popped an inside pass to winger Owen Williams and
he knifed through the Munster defence to silence the home crowd. Patchell converted and Cardiff now led once
more by 10-3.
But the men in red got
the opportunity to hit back immediately when Bradley Davies was penalised from
O’Gara’s kick off and O’Gara himself converted to reduce the deficit to
10-6. This however was as good as it was going to get for the home
side.
O’Gara’s tactical
kicking continued to be on the money but as the fog descended and it became
hard to make out the players, it was symbolic of Munster’s struggles to find
their men in positive attacking positions.
There seemed to be a collective malfunction, the play was very flat and
the groans continued from the crowd with each dropped pass.
Cardiff had an
excellent opportunity to kill off the home side in 68th minute when
centre Roberts knifed through once more but winger Williams seemed to overrun
him at the crucial time and Roberts pass was deemed to be forward with the try
line at Williams mercy. However, they
did not have to wait long to make amends.
After a fumble by
scrum half Duncan Williams when Munster were breaking out of their own half,
backrow Copeland picked up the loose ball, evaded a couple of would be tacklers
and touched down in the corner. The
conversion was converted expertly by Patchell from the touchline to extend the
Cardiff lead to 17-6.
Munster tried to raise
a gallop in the last ten minutes but to no avail. They had one final penalty which was kicked
to the corner by O’Gara. From the
resultant lineout Cardiff were penalised once more but the ball was
miscontrolled at the base of the Munster scrum and the away side cleared to
close out the game.
Munster Coach Rob Penney and his backs coach Simon Mannix will have
sleepless nights after this capitulation and some serious work will have to be
done on the training paddock before the big Heineken Cup games on the
horizon. This was a very listless
performance and as we are now half way through the season, the excuses that the
team are still getting used to the Kiwi’s style of play are now wearing
thin. The leaders in the team will now
need to stand up so that the constant handling errors and flatness of this
performance will not be repeated. Penney
will hope also that the injuries that forced both Conor Murray, Mike Sherry and
Stephen Archer off are not that serious and that they will be available for
next weekend’s trip to Edinburgh.
Cardiff will be delighted with how they ground out this victory on the
road and much of the plaudits must go to their backrow who were very
competitive in the trenches and also to outhalf Patchell who penned Munster
back at regular intervals to ease the pressure on his defence.
Munster remain in 6th place in the Rabo Pro12 table and
outside the playoff positions while Cardiff jump up one place to 7th
before they face the daunting trip to Toulon in the Heineken Cup next weekend.
Man of the
Match: Rys Patchell (Cardiff)
Teams and
Scorers:
Munster: F. Jones, D.
Howlett(c), K. Earls (C. Lualala 58 mins), J. Downey, D. Hurley (I. Keatley 60
mins), R. O’Gara (2 pens), C. Murray (D. Williams 14 mins inj), D. Kilcoyne (W.
Du Preez 74 mins), M. Sherry (S. Henry 24 mins inj.), S. Archer (BJ Botha 62
mins inj.), D. Foley (B. Holland 58 mins), D. Ryan, T. O’Donnell (CJ Stander 62
mins), S. Dougall, J. Coughlan Replacements: S. Henry, W. Du Preez, BJ
Botha, B. Holland, CJ Stander, D. Williams, I. Keatley, C. Lualala
Cardiff: J. Tovey (L.
Halfpenney 52 mins), O. Williams (1 try), R. Smith, J. Roberts, H. Robinson, R.
Patchell (1 pen, 2 con.), L. Jones (A. Walker 62 mins), S. Hobbs (P. Tamba 69
mins), R. Williams (K. Dacey 69 mins), B. Bourrust (S. Andrews H/T), B. Davies,
L.Redd (J. Down 57 mins), J. Navidi(c), S. Warburton, R. Copeland Replacements:
K. Dacey, P. Damba, S. Andrews, J. Down, L. Hamilton, A. Walker, C.
Sweeney, L. Halfpenny
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