URC: Munster 13 Bulls 16
Munster had notions of doing something big in Cardiff at the business end of this season but not only will they not be featuring in the Champions Cup final there next month, they now head to the Welsh capital in a few days looking for points to ensure they will be in that competition when they begin next term under new head coach Clayton McMillan.
It would still take a catastrophic series of results for the unthinkable to happen and Munster not feature in Europe’s premier competition, but this controversial loss to the Bulls leaves little wriggle room and with just three points at most separating them from the three teams they have yet to face in a league where there are just six points between Benetton in fifth and Connacht in 12th, every point is precious.
Interim head coach Ian Costello now needs to get them composed for a trip to play Cardiff in the Arms Park next Friday, smarting from a first loss at Thomond Park to a South African side in the URC a week after going out of the Champions Cup away to Bordeaux Bègles.
Two major refereeing decisions contributed to Munster’s loss. The first came after 16 minutes when number eight Cameron Hanekom clearly tapped a penalty off his knee rather than his foot in a move which finished with Marcell Coetzee squeezing over for the Bulls’ only try.
Then Munster were forced to play almost 14 minutes in the second half with 14 men after the game went to uncontested scrums and Munster were erronously told they had to go down to 14 men.
Number eight Alex Kendellen went off but he was allowed back on — neither team scored while he was off — when the match officials realised that tighthead Oli Jager had gone off in the opening half with a head injury before uncontested scrums were called when his replacement Stephen Archer also had to go off injured after 52 minutes and was replaced by hooker Lee Barron.
Costello refused to use the mistakes as an excuse for their loss. “We looked for clarification and unfortunately the information we got was we were down to 14 and then it got pretty confusing.
“A lot of people got involved. You can’t stop the game obviously. It’s one of those situations, it’s disappointing, but it isn’t the reason we lost the game. I suppose what probably made it difficult was that Oli, the first substitution was for a HIA, the second one was for an injury and that HIA should have ensured we stayed at 15. But look, it took 13 or 14 minutes before it got overturned and that’s something that we have got to look into.”
Getting them set for Cardiff is now the top priority and Costello knows they have little room for error, even if they are at home for their final two games against Ulster and Benetton but they will need to up the tempo from this display.
“There were probably quite a few issues,” added Costello. “I suppose it was such an emotional high over the last few weeks and that was always going to be the challenge and there were some aspects of our game that were a little bit flat.
The sides were deadlocked at 10-10 at the break. Munster, who were forced into two late changes when Craig Casey (illness) and Peter O’Mahony (hamstring) had to be replaced by Conor Murray and Jack O’Donoghue, hit back from Coetzee’s try when fullback Thaakir Abrahams scored before the break after a sustainted period of pressure which yielded their only try when they went wide from right to left.
Johann Goosen edged the Bulls back in front with a penalty after Jean Kleyn was penalised for offside to lead 13-10 after 49 minutes, but Jack Crowley cancelled this shortly afterwards with his second penalty when centre David Kriel took out skipper Tadhg Beirne early.
The controversy over the uncontested scrums was followed by a period of Bulls pressure and replacement outhalf Keagan Johannes landed the winner from 38 metres seven minutes from time, having moments earlier missed a kick from the right on a night when Munster were left frustrated by the officials.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 8 mins: Crowley pen 3-0; 16: Coetzee try, Goosen con 3-7; 22: Goosen pen 3-10; 37: Abrahams try, Crowley con 10-10; Half-time: 10-10; 49: Goosen pen 10-13; 51: Crowley pen 13-13; 73: Johannes pen 13-16.
MUNSTER: T Abrahams; S O’Brien, T Farrell, A Nankivell, A Smith; J Crowley, C Murray; J Wycherley, N Scannell, O Jager; J Kleyn, T Beirne (capt); T Ahern, J O’Donoghue, A Kendellen.
Replacements: S Archer for Jager (14 mins); L Barron for Archer, D Kilgallen for Smith (both 52); M Donnelly for N Scannell (60); R Quinn for Ahern, F Wycherley for Kleyn (both 67); P Patterson for Murray, R Scannell for Nankivell (both 74).
BULLS: D Williams; C Moodie, D Kriel, H Vorster, S de Klerk; J Goosen, E Papier; J-Hendrik Wessels, A van der Merwe, W Louw; C Wiese, R Nortje (capt); M Coetzee, J Kirsten, C Hanekom.
Replacements: J Grobbelaar for Van der Merwe, M Smith for Louw (both 58 mins); JF van Heerden for Wiese (64); K Johannes for Goosen, S Matanzima for Wessels (both 68); Z Burger for Papier (68-80).
Referee: A Piardi (Italy)
