Connacht 35 Munster 14
In a season of memories and landmarks, Connacht didn’t so much complete their first ever seasonal double over Munster rivals but utterly rammed home their re-drawing of the Irish provincial map. Any doubts that there has been a shift in the balance of power were removed by this handsome bonus point win.
Munster flattered to deceive after scoring two tries in the opening 33 minutes to lead 14-6. But thereafter they didn’t score a point, as Connacht – utterly more developed and assured in what they are doing – went up the gears and won pulling away.
The majority of a capacity 7,786, and that actually looked a true figure too, headed off into Eyre Square and the night delirious. By dint of this win, they returned to second place, knowing that one more win will secure a play-off place and two more, against Treviso away and Glasgow at home, will ensure a home semi-final.
As it is, this excellent win ensured a first top six finish direct qualification for the European Champions Cup by dint of their league position.
Their ball retention, ambition and skills utterly outshone Munster, with a host of outstanding performances, none more than their non-stop action man Bundee Aki, who carried 20 times for over 130 metres and continually brought home team and crowd alive with a quite stunning exhibition of dynamic ball-carrying.
But this was a fine display from Denis Buckley to Robbie Henshaw and an eye-catching effort from Finlay Bealham. Everyone was comfortable on the ball with the trademark athleticism and assured ball-handling of Ultan Dillane and Aly Muldowney as good a secondrow partnership as there is around.
Typical of the way players have seamlessly slipped into the Connacht system was the assured performance of Shane O’Leary, nominally their fourth-choice outhalf. Unfairly criticised last week, once again there were mistakes, notably a missed penalty to touch and a high hard pass which Aki fumbled as the home side’s exit strategy no doubt again drew criticism from conservative punditry. But his distribution was again eye-catching, as was his goal-kicking and all round game management.
On an ideal night for rugby in the west, Connacht kicked off with the low-lying sun behind their backs and thus in their visitors' eyes. A big hit by Aki, as usual, helped draw the early lines in the sand, yet in truth it was Munster who looked more dangerous, with Simon Zebo making early inroads with a break off Johnny Holland's inside pass.
Connacht’s ball retention was again good though, and both locks featured prominently in the build-up to O’Leary opening the scoring with a penalty after CJ Stander was penalised for hands in a ruck.
The home side were indebted to the alertness of Niyi Adeolokun after Conor Murray charged down O'Leary's relieving kick from, ironically, a more orthodox exit strategy.
But when Munster reclaimed the restart, Johnny Holland made a lovely half-break and one-handed offload to the supporting Jack O'Donoghue, whose offload inside enabled Zebo to finish adroitly when eluding the covering tackles of O'Leary and Matt Healy.
Back came Connacht, and though Niall Scannell stopped Aki in his tracks impressively after a lineout maul was held up, compensation for the home side came by way of another O'Leary penalty from under the posts for the tackler not releasing.
But after Aki's aforementioned fumble from O'Leary's pass, Munster used the territorial gain to strike again after a strong carry off the base by O'Donoghue, before electing to go to the corner. From the well-controlled lineout maul, Mike Sherry touched down and Johnny Holland landed a superb touchline conversion, his 13th successful kick out of 13 in his fledgling Pro12 career, for a 14-6 lead.
Connacht needed something to bring them alive and Aki was the man, stepping and breaking the Munster red line with a superb clean break which looked sure to yield a try, but Kieran Marmion failed to hold his inside pass with a routine run-in abegging.
Re-set scrums were a blight on the first half, with each of the Munster props, James Cronin and Stephen Archer being eventually penalised at the first two scrums for scrumming at an angle and collapsing. More re-sets had referee Ben Whitehouse issuing a warning to both frontrows, following which a mystified Cronin was binned for again incurring the wrath of the referee.
Cue that perpetual ball of motion, Aki, who scooped up a poor pass by Adeolokun, stepped and broke the Munster midfield again for Bealham to provide the link when collecting the offload and passing out of the tackle for Adeolokun to finish off.
From the restart, and again eschewing orthodox exit strategies, yet again Aki proved their go-to man, with a stunning 70 metre break from deep, supported by Marmion and then Peter Robb, who was hauled down by Johnny Holland.
But when Billy Holland was rightly penalised for not rolling away after Bealham brilliantly held onto a low pass and carried to the line. In injury time, with the last play off the half, needless to say Connacht again opted for a scrum against the severely depleted Munster pack. When the latter buckled, Whitehouse marched infield to behind the posts and O'Leary added the conversion.
At 20-14 to Connacht, the game had been transformed, and when a Munster maul was held up soon after the resumption, the ensuing home roar underlined the impression that the flow of psychic energy had ebbed irreversibly toward Connacht.
Although they probed and were eventually back to their full compliment without any further damage, as soon as he returned to the pitch, Billy Holland was pinged again. When Connacht went up the line and to one of their strike moves, with Marmion again wrapping around O'Leary, Henshaw still had a two-on-two when his deft grubber bounced wickedly past Darren Sweetnam for Adeolokun to gather and score. Repeated video replays showed the ball bounced off the foot of Zebo and the Connacht winger's thigh, and so the try was awarded.
O'Leary missed the conversion, and Munster came knocking again, but their last lifeline elapsed when Francis Saili knocked on in the art of flamboyantly touching down from Murray's pass, with his elaborate celebrations fooling no-one.
Instead, Connacht struck for their eighth offensive bonus point of the season. Again it originated in another stunning break from deep by Aki, who minutes earlier had received treatment on what briefly looked like a slightly alarming injury when David Kilcoyne landed on his lower leg at a ruck.
After a barnstorming carry by Dillane, Henshaw and Eoin McKeon were amongst those held up short before the impressive Bealham took Marmion’s pass to score with relative ease under the posts in eluding the tackles of Niall Scannell and Stander as the Munster defence lost its shape.
When Ian Keatley kicked the ball long and dead, the last vestiges of energy left Munster's weary legs and minds, although credit to Zebo for denying Jack Carty an intercept breakaway try. O'Leary, in any case, had the last say with a penalty, after a heartfelt, passionate reclaiming of The Fields of Athenry, very apt on the night that Connacht put Munster in their place in every sense.
Just as significantly Munster, who were destroyed at scrum time, now sit in seventh place, outside the European Champiosn Cup places behind Edinburgh, whom they host in a massive match in two weeks.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 9 mins O'Leary pen 3-0; 11 mins Zebo try, J Holland con 3-7; 19 mins O'Leary pen 6-7; 33 mins Sherry try, J Holland con 6-14; 37 mins Adeolokun try, O'Leary con 13-14; 40 (+3) mins penalty try, O'Leary con 20-14; (half-time 20-14); 55 mins Adeolokun try 25-14; 66 mins Bealham try, O'Leary con 32-14.
CONNACHT: Robbie Henshaw; Niyi Adeolokun, Bundee Aki, Peter Robb, Matt Healy; Shane O'Leary, Kieran Marmion; Denis Buckley, Tom McCartney, Finlay Bealham; Ultan Dillane, Aly Muldowney; Seán O'Brien, Eoin McKeon, John Muldoon (capt).
Replacements: Andrew Browne for Muldowney (64 mins), John Cooney for Marmion (67 mins), JP Cooney for Bealham (68 mins), Fionn Carr for Aki (69 mins), James Connolly for O'Brien (72 mins), Jason Harris-Wright for McCartney, Ronan Loughney for Buckley, Jack Carty for Robb (all 74 mins),
MUNSTER: Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Francis Saili, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Johnny Holland, Conor Murray; James Cronin, Mike Sherry, Stephen Archer; Donnacha Ryan, Billy Holland; CJ Stander (capt), Tommy O'Donnell, Jack O'Donoghue.
Replacements: Niall Scannell for Sherry, Andrew Conway for Sweetman (both 55 mins), Dave Kilcoyne for O'Donoghue (40-42 mins) and Cronin (55 mins), Robin Copeland for O'Donoghue (57 mins), Ian Keatley for J Holland (67 mins), John Ryan for Archer, Jordan Coghlan for Ryan (both 69 mins). Not used: Tomas O'Leary. Sinbinned: Cronin (32-42 mins), B Holland (40 +2-48 mins).
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales).
