MUNSTER BEAT THE Ospreys 12-6 in the RaboDirect Pro12 at Thomond Park this evening, their first win over the Welsh region since May 2011.
Rob Penney’s side move back to the top of the league thanks to a scrappy win in which they failed to build sustained attacking pressure. The Ospreys frustrated the home side by constantly testing the offside line and making the rucks a contest.
A scrum penalty allowed Ian Keatley to open the scoring for Munster from the tee after just 5 minutes. The Ospreys went on the attack thereafter, not afraid to use the boot for territorial gain. Gradually Munster got a stranglehold on possession though, with Keatley looking to put width on the ball.
A cross-field kick from the out-half led to the Ospreys going off their feet at ruck time, but Keatley missed with the penalty from wide on the left. South African back row CJ Stander made a powerful start to the game and he contributed to Munster’s play in the lead up-up to Keatley’s second successful penalty after 22 minutes.
On that occasion, the Ospreys cynically entered the ruck from the side with Munster making inroads inside the Welsh side’s 22. Keatley punished the indiscipline to make it 6-0. Stander then spoiled his positive contributions by failing to roll away at a defensive breakdown and Matthew Morgan opened the Ospreys’ account with his first kick at goal.
With referee Giuseppe Vivarini struggling to get consistency at scrum time, the next ten minutes descended into scrappiness in front of a sparse Thomond Park crowd. As half time approached, Munster got back into the Ospreys’ 22, but a knock on spoiled some solid build-up play from the forwards.
In the 38th minute the home side won possession again after turning over an Ospreys scrum and Keatley released Ivan Dineen to power over from five metres out. The inside centre showed good strength to go through the tackle of Morgan and touch down to the left of the posts.
However, the Television Match Official, Jude Quinn, was called on to investigate whether or not the scrum had actually been completed and he ruled that it hadn’t. The ball did indeed shoot back out the channel into which Tito Tebaldi had fed it but Munster were understandably displeased to have the try ruled out.
The second half began with promising field position for Munster, but again the difficult conditions and a lack of focus combined to leave them empty handed. After working their way into the Munster 22, the Ospreys then thought they had taken the lead for the first time in the 49th minute, but Tebaldi had his claim ruled out by the TMO for double movement.
Keatley missed with a 43 metre penalty effort soon after, making a poor connection and pulling his strike to the left of the posts. He made amends four minutes later, rewarding captain Damien Varley’s superb turnover penalty with three points. The introduction of Cathal Sheridan at scrum-half added pace to Munster’s attack and they began to look more threatening.
Substitute JJ Hanrahan slotted over a 68th minute penalty to put Munster 12-3 in front after Johne Murphy had been taken out with a late tackle. Stander then went off his feet at the breakdown to give the Ospreys a chance to immediately close the gap, but Morgan pulled the penalty to the left of the uprights.
Varley was deservedly named man of the match as a dull encounter finished with Munster defending in their own 22. The last action of the game saw Ospreys out-half Morgan salvage a losing bonus point for his team with a penalty from the right. It wasn’t pretty by any means in testing conditions, but Munster are top of the Pro12 and that’s what truly matters.
