Celtic League/ Connacht 8 Munster 14: The new-year cheer went Munster's way as they eked out victory in the Galway Sportsground on Sunday and extended the distance between themselves and Connacht in the Celtic League.
With a half-time lead of just three points and facing into a strong wind, Munster introduced their big guns. And the presence of Paul O'Connell, Ronan O'Gara, John Hayes, and Trevor Halstead galvanised the men in red as they squeezed Connacht out of the game.
Understandably given the wind and rain, the points were more important than the manner in which they were gained, and Munster coach Declan Kidney was content his side continued to pull away from the Westerners in front of a capacity 4,500 crowd.
"We played Connacht four weeks ago and had we lost we would have been nine points behind. Now we are six ahead, so I am delighted with that," he said.
"We were probably over-anxious in the first 20 minutes. In the second half we took the kick-off and stayed in their half for the remainder of the game."
Defending his decision to rejig his line-up for this interprovincial - there were nine changes from the side that beat Leinster - Kidney said he would continue to "mix it up" for the clash with the Dragons next Friday.
"Everyone wants the young fellas to have a go," he said. "The same team cannot play week in week out. With three games in 10 days we will have to change things around again next week."
He also admitted the weather had made the match the proverbial lottery: "We tried to play football in the first half, but the conditions did not allow it."
Surprisingly, Connacht opted to play into the wind. It nearly paid off. Three times they pounded the Munster line; three times they emerged with nothing.
Connacht bossed the forward exchanges, controlled the lineouts through Andrew Farley, making his 100th appearance for the province. And in the backs Mark McHugh looked the more composed of the two outhalves, controlling the game with some low touch-finders and opening the scoring after 21 minutes with a penalty after Munster went offside in the ruck.
Munster were quick to reply when Jeremy Manning notched a similar effort after Daniel Riordan was penalised for failing to release. And although the Munster outhalf overcooked three kicks, he grabbed another on 32 minutes to put Munster ahead.
Connacht, however, will rue their failure to convert. They had Munster under all sorts of pressure for long periods as their forwards laid siege. A series of drives yielded the penalty when John O'Sullivan was yellow-carded, but they opted to go wide, losing the momentum.
Yet Connacht would have been the happier at half-time. With the wind and McHugh's trusty boot, they could have expected to continue where they left off.
They did early on, turning over ruck ball, before Chris Keane's quick thinking established the territorial position they needed. Yet they nearly fluffed it. The lineout sailed over Farley's head to the tail and in the confusion that followed the ball went loose and Ray Ofisa dived over for the try.
O'Gara was sinbinned for a remonstrating, and with Connacht leading 8-6, a win against Munster finally looked possible. But O'Connell and co got into gear. The big lock initiated the breakthrough to set up position before they struck with a series of five-metre scrums. Eventually the pressure told when they chose the blindside and Peter Stringer found Christian Cullen, who supplied Tomás O'Leary on the wing for the touchdown.
Though the conversion attempt and a 68th-minute penalty sailed wide, Munster had a stranglehold. Connacht's lineout and scrum struggled, and they spent most of the remaining time on the defensive. A 78th-minute O'Gara penalty sealed the win.
Connacht's first-half heroics earned them a bonus point - not enough, however, to keep them ahead of the Heineken European Cup-chasing Dragons, who still have three games in hand.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 21 mins: McHugh pen 3-0; 23: Manning pen 3-3; 32: Manning pen 3-6 (half-time 3-6); 44: Ofisa try 8-6; 57: O'Leary try 8-11; 68: O'Gara pen 8-14.
CONNACHT: D Riordan; K Matthews, P Warwick, G Williams, D Yapp; M McHugh, C Keane; B Wilkinson, J Fogarty, S Knoop; D Gannon, A Farley; J Muldoon, R Ofisa, C Rigney. Replacements: M Swift for Gannon (13 mins), B Sturgess for Knoop (61 mins), A Flavin for Fogarty (63 mins), M Lacey for Ofisa (71 mins), T Robinson for Wilkinson, J Hearty for Matthews (both 75 mins).
MUNSTER: C Cullen; T O'Leary, B Murphy, M Lifeimi, S Payne; J Manning, P Stringer; D Hurley, F Sheahan, F Pucciariello; D O'Callaghan, C Wyatt; J O'Sullivan, D Wallace, J Coughlan. Replacements: P O'Connell for Wyatt, J Hayes for Hurley, T Halstead for Murphy, R O'Gara for Manning (all half-time). Sinbinned: O'Sullivan, O'Gara.
Referee: D Keane(IRFU).
