Glasgow 29 Munster 43:MUNSTER MADE it four wins out of four last night as they saw off the Glasgow Warriors with a bonus point win at Firhill.
Ronan O’Gara was the star of the show for Tony McGahan’s side, landing 23 points with the boot in master class performance.
Johne Murphy pitched in with two tries whilst Niall Ronan and Denis Leamy also crossed over in a high-scoring encounter.
Glasgow also managed tries through DTH van der Merwe and Colin Gregor, and were good value for their 26-17 half-time lead.
However, two tries immediately after half-time took the wind out of their sails, and Munster tightened their grip to see out the win. Apart from O’Gara, there were several standout performers for Munster, most notably that of Donncha O’Callaghan who turned in another commanding performance, despite receiving a yellow card shortly before half-time.
Nineteen-year-old outhalf Duncan Weir made his first start for Glasgow and he looked shaky early on, missing two very kickable penalties.
In a scrappy open period Weir opened the scoring with a penalty on seven minutes after Niall Ronan was penalised for playing the ball on the ground.
O’Gara and Weir missed penalty chances before the young home outhalf proved instrumental as Glasgow extended their lead out to 10 points.
Weir aimed an inch-perfect cross-field kick into the corner for Bernado Stortoni who knocked the ball back for van der Merwe to score. Weir added the conversion.
Their advantage lasted little more than a minute as Munster hit back with a series of close-range drives off the back of a five-metre lineout, and the ball was eventually driven over by Leamy.
O’Gara converted and then traded penalty kicks with Weir to leave Munster trailing 13-10 midway through the half.
Discipline was a real problem for McGahan’s men and another infringement in the scrum allowed Weir to add another penalty.
Again, Munster’s response was immediate and Murphy picked an excellent line off a Paul Warwick pass following good work by the pack. O’Gara converted but Weir hit back with another penalty, and O’Callaghan was then binned as Munster’s first-half penalty count veered towards double figures.
McGahan would have been pleased with the way his side defended whilst down to 10 men, Tuitupou pulling off an incredible tackle in the corner to deny Richie Vernon a try.
Gregor did made them pay with a close-range snipe, however, and Weir once again added the extras to leave the Warriors leading 26-17 at half-time.
Munster came tearing out of the blocks in the second half and a solid scrum platform allowed Niall Ronan to skip his way over for Munster’s third try, which was again converted. More forward pressure followed, and another seven-pointer arrived when O’Gara’s grubber found Murphy in just enough space to score.
O’Gara then added another penalty to complete a 17-point swing in just 10 minutes, Munster now leading 34-26.
Weir and O’Gara once more traded penalties but Glasgow looked short on ideas and Munster looked increasingly confident.
O’Gara nailed another late penalty to complete a satisfactory night’s work for the Munster men.
GLASGOW: B Stortoni: DTH van der Merwe, M Evans, G Morrison, F Aramburu; D Weir (R Jackson 54), C Gregor (H Pyrgos 63); J Welsh (Tkachuk 57), F Thomson (D Hall 57), M Low (Ed Kalman 71); T Ryder (C Forrester 64), R Gray; R Harley, J Barclay (capt.), R Vernon (R Wilson 67).
MUNSTER: P Warwick (S Deasy 65), D Howlett, L Mafi, S Tuitupou (D Hurley 67), J Murphy, R O’Gara, T O’Leary (P Stringer 67), M Horan (W du Preez 47), D Varley (S Henry 74), T Buckley (D Hurley 75), D O’Callaghan, D Ryan (M ODriscoll 71), D Wallace (J Coughlan 61), N Ronan, D Leamy (capt).
Referee: Carlo Damasco
