A man of the match performance by birthday boy Tadhg Beirne laid the foundation as he led Munster to a hard fought victory, ably supported by his team mates after an early red card sent Simon Zebo to the dugout. Peter had given the pre-match Captain’s interview to RTE but shortly afterwards the camera showed him walking off, unrolling the taping on his arm. When the starting fifteen took to the pitch it revealed that Beirne had been promoted from the bench, with Alex Kendellan taking his place there.
Special mention also for Mike Haley who covered so much ground, marshalling the defences and claiming box kick after kick in horrendous handling conditions to keep Munster on the front foot.
The first quarter of the game was all Ulster – maybe the disruption of losing their captain pre kick-off had an impact. The visitors scored an early maul try through Rob Herring converted by John Cooney when they won a penalty in the 6th minute. However, the red card certainly seemed to galvanise the hosts. A nice line out variation thrown to Craig at the front was unfortunately knocked on when he passed it back to Niall; if it had worked out it could have paid dividends.
Down a man, should it have been two (Jack and Simon) the pundits mused, Munster dug deep. Carries by Killer and Coombes, maul defence turnovers by Tadhg and others, excellent scrum half work by Hodnett at one stage helped to keep the pace up. Phase after phase, forwards and backs combined as the possession stats began to swing in Munster’s favour. Hodnett made a break, then Ahern carried several Ulsterman with him to bring Munster close to the try line approaching the half hour mark. An opportunity to go wide was missed when Farrell knocked on but Munster had another opportunity when Ulster went offside. Niall, Archer, then Hodnett and Killer all carried, before Haley was driven back. When possession was lost there was a penalty for another offside awarded. This time Munster opted to take the 3 points on offer to make it 3-7 on 32 minutes.
From the restart Niall, then Gavin carried the ball back and won a penalty when the tackler did not roll away. Munster were back on the attack from the resultant lineout. Jack Crowley made a nice side-stepping break. Munster kept Ulster pinned back in their own half before launching another sustained attack from a lineout. It was fast, it was furious and it paid dividends, winning another penalty in the 39th minute which Crowley again put between the posts. It crossed the bar at 39 minutes 57s to make it 6-7 but there was time for the restart unfortunately! French was tackled as he tried to kick the ball out of play and Ulster took possession. Munster deserved to go into the break only a point behind but Ulster tagged on a late penalty to make it 6-10. It could have been better but it could also have been so much worse.
It is worth watching Casey’s athletic steal on 42 minutes – the ball was out (he confirmed with the ref) before stretching over the heap of bodies to grab the ball before anyone else could react to it! Well done Craig! Similarly kudos to Ahern for two excellent lineout steals in quick successful in the opening eight minutes of the second half. A scrum penalty in the 56th minute was the first score of the second half, kicked by Nathan Doak to give the visitors a 7 point lead 6-13.
A tip tackle on Shane Daly resulted in a ten minute spell in the bin for Treadwell. Munster opted to kick to the corner. This time, when again camped on the visitors tryline Casey opted to put width on the game, floating a perfect long pass to set up Mike Haley for a crucial try on the wing. Unfortunately the conversion came back off the post to leave the game in the balance at 11-13 after 61 minutes.
Doak had another penalty kick at the posts, the crowd voiced their disapproval when he tried to take the kick a few metres from where he should to ensure the officials were aware of the infringement. Maybe that put him off as his kick was short. Munster seemed to grow into the game even more in the closing ten minutes, fuelled by the fresh legs from the bench perhaps. A super offload from Gavin to Josh followed by an excellent break by Jack got Munster within striking range. The ball popped out as Fineen carried into a sea of white jerseys and Alex was in the right place to take advantage and score. Ben Healy converted to bring the score to 18-13. It was great to see the west terrace celebrations in the clip below.
Munster Rugby: Mike Haley; Seán French (rep: Shane Daly ’51), Chris Farrell, Rory Scannell, Simon Zebo (red card ’15); Jack Crowley (rep: Ben Healy ’62), Craig Casey (rep: Neil Cronin ’71); Dave Kilcoyne (rep: Josh Wycherley ’51), Niall Scannell (rep: Diarmuid Barron ’51), Stephen Archer (rep: John Ryan ’51); Thomas Ahern (rep: Jack O’Donoghue ’65), Fineen Wycherley; Tadhg Beirne (CAPT), John Hodnett (rep: Alex Kendellen ’62), Gavin Coombes.
Ulster Rugby: Mike Lowry, Craig Gilroy (rep: Rob Lyttle ’77), Ben Moxham, James Hume (rep: Angus Curtis ’62), Ethan McIlroy, Billy Burns, John Cooney (rep: Nathan Doak ’23); Jack McGrath (rep: Andrew Warwick’45), Rob Herring (rep:John Andrew 77), Tom O’Toole (rep: Ross Kane ’77), Alan O’Connor (CAPT), Sam Carter (rep: Kieran Treadwell ’45 – yellow card 58-68), Greg Jones (rep: Marcus Rea ’62), Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen.
Match reports from The42.ie, Irish Examiner and RTE.ie
I was surprised to see that supporters were allowed onto the terraces as I had assumed it would be social distancing in the stands only when the 5,000 limit was announced. My assumption was based on the earlier pilots done when a few thousand were allowed but only into the stands. However I saw Joan, Imelda, Sinead and other season ticket holders on the west terrace celebrating Alex’s try so maybe the lottery allowed X% into each area. Imelda heard that the max allowed in the west terrace (N&S) was just 175. The lottery had challenges, not least the lack of an opt-in / opt-out option which was compounded by some people not getting confirmation that they had been successful until the day before at which stage it was too late for some to make arrangements to travel while others with tickets were in isolation due to covid. However, while it was not as noisy as an inter-pro would normally be those in attendance made themselves heard, especially when Munster laid siege to the Ulster line towards the end of the first half and when they went on the attack in the second half. Hopefully the lottery for the Wasps game does not have the email glitch. That Sunday afternoon kick-off will be easier for the travelling supporters from around and outside the province and if the team do well in Castres there will hopefully be a home play-off game at stake when Wasps visit.
While this performance and result does not paper over the cracks exposed in recent games it was great to witness the team’s fighting spirit when their backs were to the wall and to again see the young talent coming through – Thomas Ahern stealing opposition lineouts for fun and Alex Kendellan scoring his first senior try just months after leading the Ireland Under 20s – all of which will set the team up well for the European challenges over the next two weeks. With the stretch in the evenings comes hope for the future, just to spite the doomsayers and all the recent negativity.
While there were plenty of handling errors but conditions were not suited to champagne rugby. Yet we did see a handful of great offloads including this beauty in the lead up to the decisive try.
Final thought – Johan’s pre-game interview with Murray Kinsella showed his frustration and he was rude but asking him to explain his rationale for leaving yet again so many weeks after the initial announcement was not going to add anything new at this stage. It is time to move on and focus on the games remaining on his watch and look forward to a bright future building on home grown talents who will hopefully thrive under the new management team.
WTView: Observations of a Munster Rugby Supporter 
Beautifully written as always!! Tadhg was just outstanding, definitely one of his best days in a Munster shirt, or indeed any shirt for that matter!! Great individual performance and captained the team with passion and class under very difficult circumstances 💪!
Mike Haley was everywhere, aside from one stray kick, probably one of his best games yet, so assured under those high balls, despite covering for our missing winger!
Thomas and Craig also deserve a mention, Jack’s brilliant run leading up to the winning try, and Alex Kendellen’s smiling face at the end, pride and I’m sure a little relief 🤣🤣
Not the prettiest of games to say the least, but so typical Munster!!
Mumhan Abú ♥️♥️
Thanks for reading & taking the time to comment Helen. Alex’s smile and fist pump put a smile on all our faces for sure. Roll on Fridays game #SUAF
Great to read again !!!!!!
Hopefully see you friday in Casters
Merci Marc, I won’t be there on Friday but will be looking out for you and your flag!! Hopefully next season travel will be easier. Take care