Munster 20

Cardiff 15

John Fallon reports from Thomond Park

JACK CROWLEY’S first competitive try for Munster rescued them against a battling Cardiff side in an error-ridden contest at Thomond Park.

Crowley struck in the final quarter after Cardiff had hit the front, but the reigning URC champions just about did enough to secure victory and remain on course for a home quarter-final.

But Graham Rowntree’s men will need to show improvement across the park if they are to win their Champions Cup clash in Northampton next weekend.

They were forced into a late change with double World Cup winner RG Snyman forced to withdraw due to sickness. Tom Ahern came in for the Springbok, with Jack Daly added to the bench as the champions sought to boost their chances of a home quarter-final.

After a scoreless opening quarter, John Hodnett and the Munster following thought he had broken the deadlock when they pounced on a knock-on by Cardiff tighthead Keiron Assiratti, with the ball quickly played through the hands for Antoine Frisch to put the flanker over in the left corner, but on review, Mike Haley was pinged for a knock-on as he tried to gather a pass from Sean O’Brien.

Both sides were guilty of sloppy handling on a dry night for rugby, with Munster registering eight handling errors to five for Cardiff in the opening 32 minutes.

Crowley eventually broke the deadlock two minutes from the break. Cardiff scrum-half Bevan was nabbed and from the turnover his half-back partner Tinus de Beer was offside as Crowley tried to counter. The Munster out-half, who came into the game with a record of 15 out of 17 kicks in the league, made no mistake from 30 metres in front of the posts to lead 3-0 at the interval after they lost the lineout from a 50:22 from Shane Daly’s grubber down the left wing.

Munster finally got their act together. They went for the left corner with a penalty in front of the posts after Mann had strayed offside and while Cardiff defended the first effort, a second penalty led to a good lineout take from O’Mahony and skipper Tadhg Beirne supplied the finish after the third drive, with Crowley converting to lead 10-0 after 48 minutes.

However, Cardiff hit back and centre Ben Thomas intercepted a pass from Casey to Beirne and ran from his own 22 to score under the posts. Tinus de Beer converted and then after replacement tighthead John Ryan was binned for a dangerous clearout, Cardiff hit the front after going to the corner and getting the drive for hooker Liam Belcher to score.

De Beer narrowly missed the conversion but it left Cardiff 12-10 in front going into the last quarter before Crowley seized the initiative to jink his way over by the posts while they had an advantage 16 minutes from the end.

He converted and landed a late penalty to seal the win but Cardiff escaped with a deserved bonus point when Liam Beetham landed a penalty shortly after coming on in the dying moments.

Scorers: Munster: Tries: Beirne, Crowley. Cons: Crowley (2 from 2). Pens: Crowley (2 from 2).

Cardiff: Tries: Thomas, Belcher. Con: de Beer (1 from 2). Pen: Beetham (1 from1).

Munster: Mike Haley (Simon Zebo ‘72); Seán O’Brien, Antoine Frisch, Alex Nankivell (Joey Carbery ‘56), Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey (Ethan Coughlan ‘76); Jeremy Loughman (Josh Wycherley ’65), Niall Scannell (Eoghan Clarke ‘65), Stephen Archer (John Ryan ‘58); Tom Ahern (Alex Kendellen ‘72), Tadhg Beirne (c); Peter O’Mahony (Jack Daly ‘76), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Cardiff: Cam Winnett; Owen Lane (Theo Cabango ‘56), Mason Grady, Ben Thomas ((Jacob Beetham ‘78), Josh Adams; Tinus de Beer, Ellis Bevan (Matthew Aubrey ’65); Corey Domachowski (Rhys Carré ‘48), Liam Belcher (c) (Evan Lloyd ‘66), Keiron Assiratti (Will Davies-King ‘65); Ben Donnell, Seb Davies (Rory Thornton ‘65); Alex Mann, Ellis Jenkins (Thomas Young ‘49), Mackenzie Martin.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)