Munster 17; Connacht 15
It’s an old conundrum - which is better - to lose playing pretty rugby or win ugly.
After many seasons where they could catch the eye in some games but not sustain it over a season, Munster will gladly take the ugly duckling way to victory as they did again against Connacht where they edged home by two points in a URC game that was more arm-wrestle than clear class knockout blow at Thomond Park on Saturday.
Leaving aside their great win over Leinster the previous Saturday in Croke Park, this was Munster’s fourth time to win ugly and make it five wins out of five which put them up top in the league standings with Stormers.
Clayton McMillan, the Munster Head Coach, has proven himself a master tactician and few will worry at the type of rugby once it keeps yielding victories. His Connacht counterpart Stuart Lancaster now has a one win and three losses (one game postponed) to his name but that bare statistic belies the fact that the men in green are improving and could be a better proposition the longer he works with them.
What they need urgently is a place kicker as they failed to convert any of their three tries - two successful kicks would have given them a win in this tight contest. There are now some suggestions that the IRFU should encourage Joey Carbery back from France next season to add to Andy Farrell’s options at No 10 in the run up to the 2027 World Cup.
Jack O’Donoghue gave Munster an early lead with the first try of the game but a double hit from Byron Ralston gave the visitors the lead.
Diarmuid Kilgallen then restored the lead to the reds with an intercept try, converted by JJ Hanrahan.
Paul Boyle had the last try of the half, but again the convert was missed.
The second half was watching cement set until O’Donoghue once more got over for what proved the winning score 12 minutes from time.
Clayton McMillan praised his side for their fifth win in a row, despite being under par for much of the game.
When interviewed by RTE sport he stated: “It was always going to be tough back up the effort from last week. It’s something that we spoke a lot about and we can be proud of our efforts. We never stopped trying.
“The accuracy wasn’t always there, the discipline wasn’t always there but made up for it through effort and Connacht were good, they pushed us the whole way.
“It’s been really enjoyable getting my first experience of interpro rugby over here, very similar to when New Zealand or Australian teams play each other in the competition down south," he said.
“Really tough games, no inch given, really grateful to come away with the result. Patience is something that we are trying to build within the squad, around our game-management, just pounding the rock and waiting for the right opportunities. It’s always going to be a risk when we went down at half-time that we tried to win the game in the first five minutes.
“But the risk when you do that is you get too loose and you end up losing it so we won enough of the moments in the second half and put enough pressure on them that they finally gave up the points that we needed to get across the line,” he declared.
Connacht Head Coach Stuart Lancaster claimed: “Pride in the resilience we showed. The first half was very good. Intercept aside, I thought we deserved the lead. In the second half Munster dominated possession and territory. We couldn’t get out of the stranglehold they had.
“We got a point which is a small consolation, but I think it’s a game we could have won, if I’m honest. It swung on small margins; Munster came out the right side. We've got four bonus points now in defeats, but we need to turn those into wins in the next block,” he stressed.
SCORERS
Munster: Tries - O'Donoghue (2), Kilgallen Cons: Hanraham
Connacht: Tries - Ralston (2), Boyle.
Munster: S Daly; D Kilgallen, D Kelly, A Nankivell, T Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, E Coughlan; M Milne, L Barron, J Ryan; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; J O'Donoghue (capt), J Hodnett, G Coombes Replacements: N Scannell, J Loughman, R Foxe, E O'Connell, R Quinn, J O'Riordan, T Butler, S McCarthy.
Connacht: H West; B Ralston, H Gavin, C Forde, F Treacy; J Ioane, B Murphy; J Duggan, D Heffernan, S Illo; J Joyce, D Murray; J Murphy, P Boyle (capt), S Jansen Replacements: D Tierney-Martin, P Dooley, F Barrett, N Murray, D O'Connor, M Devine, S Naughton, S O’Brien.
Ref: A Piardi (FIR).
Leinster 50; Zebre 26
Any win when you have lost three of your four first round of games is welcome and so Head Coach Leo Cullen welcomed Leinster’s victory by 24 points over Zebre at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
This time around, the hosts included in its squad six uncapped players in front of the crowd of 14,128 who witnessed a dozen tries over the 80 minutes play.
Full-back Hugo McLaughlin and prop forward Jerry Cahir were debutants on the day from the off, while Bobby Sheehan, the brother of Ireland and Lions hooker Dan, Alex Usanov, Caspar Gabriel and Ciarán Mangan all saw action at various times during the game.
So all things considered, including the fact that the province were without 22 senior players, Leinster can savour this win against a rapidly improving opposition. It helped that just over a minute’s play young Josh Kenny got in for the home side’s first try.
Then backrow forward Alex Soroka dotted down after showing some great foot ball control before the Italian club’s Mirko Belloni caught a perfect cross-kick to score in the corner.
The impressive Soroka got in for his second try on the restart before scrum-half Dominguez showed quick thinking and caught the Leinster defence asleep.
Kenny ensured the winners’ bonus try but by then Leinster were down to 14 for 20 mins after Osborne had tackled Lorenzo Pani in the air, the card later upgraded to red.
Giovanni Quattrini got the Zebre’s third try but then Dominguez was sin-binned, and again later his foul was upgraded to a 20-minute red, for a tackle which forced James Culhane off with a knee injury.
Leinster led 26-21 at the break but that was soon extended when Cahir got in after pressure close to the line.
Out-half Harry Byrne kicked five conversions and has come back into the international reckoning after again being given the player of the match award. He also got in on the try act after racing in for a touchdown near the corner.
Leinster finished the better and South African giant RG Snyman also touched down in the corner. Zebre got a try-bonus that few would deny they deserved when Marco Zanon touched down before flanker Will Connors ended the try-fest with the last touchdown of the day.
Lions 49; Ulster 31
Ulster lost for the first time this season- and were well beaten but had the compensation of coming away from the game with a try-bonus point against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Ulster scores came from a Robert Baloucoune hat-trick of dot downs, with James Hume and David McCann also scoring tries on a day when the Ulstermen endured their first loss against South African opposition at Ellis Park.
In fairness it must be factored in that the visitors were without key players in captain and Ireland internationals Iain Henderson, Nick Timoney, Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale. They led 19-17 at the break on the back of two Baloucoune tries and one from Hume.
