Munster 33 Toulouse 40
A wildly fluctuating and entertaining game saw Munster come up just short, this last-16 European exit compounding last week’s Pro14 final defeat in a tie which could not have been more different in style or substance.
Munster played some cracking stuff and could not be accused of playing without ambition, as they scored four tries, it was just that Toulouse played with even more ambition and, ultimately potency.
The French champions’ amalgam of power, pace and most of all footwork and offloading through their sleight but wonderful array of backs saw them also score four tries, with Roman Ntamack landing eight from 10 for a 20-point haul. The stats afforded Toulouse 22 offloads to nine, and in truth it seemed like more than that.
The other key difference was the power of their bench, with Ugo Mola bringing in six forwards during the third quarter, amongst whom Joe Tekori made a particularly big impact.
There were a couple of brilliant first-half tries by Keith Earls which were fair reward for some inventive rugby by Munster, and much else to admire, but they didn't exit as well as their visitors and on review will rue making too many mistakes.
Jean Kleyn and Gavin Coombes again put themselves about, but the first-half loss of Tadhg Beirne with what seemed a sternum or rib injury compounded the absence of Peter O'Mahony.
We were fearful of some wondrous footwork by a World Cup-winning Springbok but in the event, instead of Cheslin Kolbe, it was Damian de Allende who left defenders in his wake with his feet and strength, albeit his influence waned in the second-half.
Indeed, having looked the best player on the pitch in the first-half, he only touched the ball twice in the second, which seems bizarre.
As ever, of course, Wayne Barnes was a particularly influential figure, the game pivoting on what looked like a couple of wrong calls by the referee and his officials.
In truth though, Toulouse finished the stronger team and were deserved winners.
Under brilliant blue skies, in temperatures of 13 degrees and with no fans, the four-time champions could not have had more favourable conditions at a Thomond Park which couldn’t have been further from its normal citadel feel.
In essence this was Toulouse’s first game in 10 weeks together, or at any rate their first with their influential French international quartet in harness.
Not that you'd have guessed as they seamlessly slotted into their running and offloading game, with the brilliant Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack pulling the strings.
Their classy, veteran fullback Maxime Medard initially used his cultured left boot to win the early aerial exchanges when finding touch deep inside the Munster 22.
He was then on hand for Ntamack’s break and one-handed offload inside as Toulouse stretched the home side through their leading try scorer this season, Matthis Lebel. When Chris Farrell was pinged and binned for tripping Pita Ahki, Ntamack opened the scoring.
So for Munster to draw level after Ntamack missed from 45 metres just as Farrell returned through a close-range Joey Carbery penalty constituted good work. This followed the first of many imposing carries by de Allende at the end of their first phased attack before Dupont came through too early on Murray.
Ntamack restored Toulouse’s lead with another close-range penalty when taking a Murray box kick on the run which the chasing Carbery overran. He was only denied a try by Murray’s covering tackle, the latter being pinned for not rolling away.
Although two hard-earned turnovers, both involving Beirne, were wasted by Stander losing the ball in contact and knocking on when surprised by the pass, Munster were verying the point of attack nicely.
Off a fine take by Conway, Murray feinted to box kick only to swivel for Carbery move the ball on, Farrell, leading the break-out with a strong carry. De Allende was heavily involved, appearing on the blindside again to sway past one defender and release Earls, the winger stepping inside Medard and taking a tackle by Selevasio Tolofua for a fine finish.
With two minutes, Earls moved to within one try of Simon Zebo’s all-time Munster try scoring record of 60 with his second try of the game.
Again De Allende made the initial break after Murrray and Earls worked a clever blindside exchange off another turnover. Although the supporting Stander was held up just short as were Kilcoyne and others in the ensuing pressure, before Murray gave Earls a walk-in with a wonderful long skip pass.
The only downside was that Carbery couldn’t land either touchline conversion before Ntamack made it 13-9 after the TMO Tom Foley declined to suggest Wayne Barnes look at replays of Francois Cros leading with his forearm high into Beirne’s chest or sternum area, which would soon force him off.
The penalty count having been 7-3 at that juncture, two penalties for Munster led to them first going to the corner before Carbery closed out the half for a 16-9 lead.
However the Toulouse players came out screaming, literally, for the restart and were straight into their power game before Ntamack, running sideways to the Munster defensive line, chipped perfectly with the outside of his right boot for Lebel to gather, take Conway’s tackle and score adroitly by the corner flag. Unlike Carbery, Ntamack judged the breeze perfectly in landing the conversion to draw the sides level.
Munster’s response was to roll their sleeves and pummel the Toulouse defence, Coombes and Farrell regularly carrying over the gainline and Murray almost reached the line with a sharp snipe.
Opting for a tap penalty short of the line rather than a set-piece seemed to catch Toulouse by surprise, Coombes being nudged forward by Stephen Archer and Billy Holland to reach the line and Carbery converted.
But as soon as Joe Tekori earned a turnover from the restart by forcing the ball from Coombes’ grasp there was an inevitability about Toulouse responding through a pack palpably energised by six replacements in the third quarter.
Toulouse lifted a siege inside their 22 with a strong counter-ruck and a steal by Tekori, then breaking out from near their own line when Medard linked with Ahki, who broke to halfway and linked wirth Lebel, whose chip ahead went over the touchline five metres from the line as Carbery and Conway scrambled desperately.
Munster’s response was again good. Carbery, with his last act, found grass in behind before Haley’s chip after quick hands by JJ Hanrahan earned an attacking lineout. Barnes wrongly adjudged Earls’ flick-on went forward as Conway was running in a try beside the posts and Ntamack should have been binned for killing the ball, Hanrahan nudging Munster ahead with the ensuing penalty.
Instead, Toulouse worked numbers from inside halfway for Ahki to release Lebel, who bamboozled Hanrahan to step him with seemingly no space on the touchline and then find the supporting Dupont for a try under the posts.
Ntamack converted for a 30-26 lead and was wide from inside halfway after Barnes pinged James Cronin for a lazy run, the English referee then penalised for Niall Scannell not rolling away, even though he was well away from the ball. Ntamack made it 33-26 as Chris Cloete came on for Murray.
Dupont ran in another try after sustained recycling, sidestepping - notably by replacement winger Dimitri Delibes - and offloading, as Barnes and his officials contrived to overlook what looked a clear knock-on by Dorian Aldegheri in the build-up.
Another close-range finish by Coombes from another tap and go just after the clock went past 80 was scant consolation.
Scoring sequence: 4 mins Ntamack pen 3-0; 15 mins Carbery pen 3-3; 17 mins Ntamack pen 3-6; 25 mins Earls try, 8-6; 28 mins Earls try 13-6; 29 mins Ntamack pen 13-9; 40 (+1) mins Carbery 16-9; (half-time 16-9); 44 mins Lebel try, Ntamack con 16-16; 51 mins Coombes try, Carbery con 23-23; 55 mins Marchand try, Ntamack con 23-23; 66 mins Hanrahan pen 26-23; 68 mins Dupont try, Ntamack con 26-30; 70 mins Ntamack pen 26-33; 78 mins Dupont try, Ntamack con 26-40; 81 mins Coombes try, Casey con 33-40.
Munster: Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Keith Earls; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Gavin Coombes, Jack O'Donoghue, CJ Stander (capt). Replacements: Kevin O'Byrne for N Scannell (35-41 and 75 mins), Billy Holland for Beirne (37 mins), James Cronin for Kilcoyne, John Ryan for Archer (both 60 mins), JJ Hanrahan for Carbery (62 mins), Fineen Wycherley for Kleyn (67 mins), Chris Cloete for O'Dohoghue (70 mins), Craig Casey for Murray (75 mins). Sinbinned - Farrell (4-14 mins).
Toulouse: Maxime Médard; Cheslin Kolbe, Zack Holmes, Pita Ahki, Matthis Lebel; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand (capt), Charlie Faumuina; Rory Arnold, Richie Arnold; Francois Cros, Selevasio Tolofua, Jerome Kaino. Replacements: Clément Castets for Baille, Dorian Aldegheri for Faumuina (both 49 mins), Joe Tekori for Richie Arnold (50 mins), Alban Placines for Tolofua (54 mins), Thibaud Flament for Rory Arnold (55 mins), Peato Mauvaka for Marchand (56 mins), Dimitri Delibes for Medard (64 mins), Baptiste Germain for Dupont (78 mins).
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
