Jack Crowley expressed his pleasure at scoring his first Munster try but felt that it shouldn’t have had to come to that point as they had to fight hard to overcome Cardiff at Thomond Park. The current URC champions had tough times for large portions of the game and had to pull a victory from behind in the last quarter against a Cardiff team that gave them a run for their money, seeking their first win in their last eleven trips to Thomond Park.
“I can’t believe it took this long. I was chuffed to score but it wasn’t something we wanted to rely on. Cardiff put us through our paces,” Crowley stated.
“We’re displeased with a few mistakes we made and the opportunities we didn’t seize. We’ll need to bring our A-game for Northampton next week.”
Munster saw a last-minute reshuffle as RG Snyman, a two-time World Cup victor, was forced to pull out due to illness. Tom Ahern stepped in for the Springbok player, with Jack Daly being added to the bench as the champions looked to improve their odds of a home quarter-final.
After an uneventful opening quarter, anticipation soared among John Hodnett and Munster fans as they believed they had opened scoring after seizing a knock-on by Cardiff tighthead Kieron Assiratti and swiftly passing the ball for Antoine Frisch to run the flanker towards the left corner. However, it was not to be as Mike Haley was penalized for a knock-on while receiving a pass from Sean O’Brien.
The absence of a central player almost cost Munster dearly. As flanker Ellis Jenkins broke away, his chip unfortunately bounced away from pursuing scrumhalf Ellis Bevan, with Bevan’s counterpart, Craig Casey, coming in to pick up the pieces.
Both teams were responsible for messy handling during the rugby match under dry conditions, with Munster logging eight handling mistakes against Cardiff’s five in the initial 32 minutes.
Because of this, scoring opportunities proved scarce between two teams that have marked huge scores in the opening quarter of games throughout this season.
In the last few minutes before half-time, Crowley managed to crack open the standoff with his grab from Welsh scrumhalf Bevan’s turnover. Despite an offside from de Beer, Crowley turned the situation around for Munster when he flawlessly reached 30 meters in front of the posts. This score came after Crowley, having been triumphant in 15 out of his 17 league kicks, made a noteworthy manoeuvre in association with Daly’s 50:22 grubber down the left . As a result, Munster led at the close of the half with a 3-0 score, despite a lost lineout.
Munster got the upper hand in the third quarter, strategising for the left corner with a front post penalty when Mann was found to be offside. Cardiff’s resistance collapsed with the second penalty paving the way for a successful lineout from O’Mahony. Beirne, supplied by team captain Beirne, completed the manoeuvre on the third drive and Crowley bumped up the score to 10-0 after 48 minutes with his conversion.
Yet, Cardiff bounced back with centre Ben Thomas intercepting a pass from Casey to Beirne, beginning at his own 22 and ending with a score beneath the posts. De Beer, replacing the binned John Ryan, was able to rally the team together, putting Cardiff in the lead. Belcher’s score after de Beer’s corner drive contributed to this as well.
Despite narrowly missing the conversion, de Beer put Cardiff two points ahead, taking the score 12-10 as the last phase started. However, Crowley took the initiative, managing a clever move to get beyond the posts and seize an advantage with just 16 minutes to spare.
Finalising the game with his conversion and a late penalty, Crowley clinched the victory for Munster. However, Cardiff managed to sneak in a bonus point as Liam Beetham secured a penalty shortly after entering the game at their twilight moment. The final score remained 20-15.
The Munster team included M Haley, S O’Brien, A Frisch, A Nankivell, S Daly; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, N Scannell, S Archer; T Ahern, T Beirne who was captain; P O’Mahony, J Hodnett, G Coombes. The replacements included J Carbery for Nankivell in the 56th minute, followed by J Ryan for Archer and J Wycherley for Loughman in the 58th minute. E Clarke took over from Scannell at 65 mins, and S Zebo and A Kendellen replaced Haley and Ahern respectively at 72 mins. E Coughlan and J Daly entered for Casey and O’Mahony respectively at 76 mins.
The Cardiff outlined included C Winnett; O Lane, M Grady, B Thomas, J Adams; T de Beer, E Bevan; C Domachowski, L Belcher who was the captain, K Assiratti; B Donnell, S Davies; A Mann, E Jenkins, M Martin. Substitutions started with R Carré for Domachowski at 48 mins, then T Young for Jenkins at 49 mins. T Cabango replaced Lane at 56 mins, with M Aubrey for Bevan, W Davies-King for Assiratti and R Thornton replacing Davies at 65 mins. E Lloyd substituted Belcher at 66 mins, and L Beetham came in for Thomas at 78 mins. The game was officiated by Andrea Piardi from Italy.