Jack Crowley guides Munster to hard-fought victory over Cardiff

Munster 23

Cardiff 20 

Clayton McMillan made a winning start to his head-coaching tenure at Thomond Park on Saturday night as Munster made it two United Rugby Championship wins from two with a narrow win over a battling Cardiff side.

A Jack Crowley penalty and drop goal in the closing quarter saw McMillan’s new charges home as they finally shook off a stubborn Cardiff challenge which had seen the Welshmen take the lead three times and claim a losing bonus point with a last-minute hat-trick try from wing Tom Bowen.

Josh Adams had opened the scoring for the visitors on 14 minutes before Ruadhan Quinn levelled in the 29th as both sides saw players yellow carded in an opening half tied 5-5. Cardiff retook the lead with Gavin Coombes in the sin bin four minutes into the second half before the Munster No.8 returned to claim his side’s second try in the 53rd minute.

Bowen struck for the second time three minutes later but Munster found another level, replacement hooker Diarmuid Barron with a try and then Crowley’s kicks at goal earning the victory, but not before Cardiff eked out both losing and try bonus points at the death.

A brisk, gusty night in Limerick was not the ideal scenario to showcase Munster’s ambition, yet that did not alter McMillan’s mission to eradicate his side’s inconsistency from week to week. The New Zealander had signposted this home opener as the perfect opportunity to start as they meant to go on under his charge, by backing up last Saturday’s round-one bonus-point win at Scarlets with a repeat dose on their return to Thomond Park.

When summer signing Dan Kelly chased down a clever Jack Crowley kick to the corner and then slid towards the tryline after being tackled by Josh Adams after nine minutes, all appeared to be going to plan yet a TMO check determined the former Leicester Tigers centre had come up short of the line.

Still, a further TMO check found a yellow-card worthy offence committed by Cardiff lock Josh McNally in the build-up as shoulder contact was made with the head of ball-carrying Munster wing Shane Daly.

Yet again, things did not follow the script. Daly was removed for a Head Injury Assessment from which he failed to return and Cardiff opened the scoring with their man in the sin bin, former Lions wing Josh Adams touching down a deflected grubber kick from fly-half Callum Sheedy on 14 minutes.

The visiting number 10 failed to convert but his side escaped McNally’s absence five points to the good.

It was a 5-0 lead which lasted 15 minutes, when Munster finally built some attacking momentum after winning a penalty deep in their own half. Crowley kicked them upfield for a lineout inside the Cardiff 22 and Munster were patient in possession before left wing Thaakir Abrahams delivered a final pass to the edge where academy graduate flanker Ruadhan Quinn was poised to claim the equalising try in his first match as a senior professional. The conversion from the left touchline was missed and the opening half ended five-all but not before Munster No.8 Gavin Coombes was sent to the sin bin by South African referee Griffin Colby for hands in the ruck as Cardiff threatened the home tryline.

Coombes’ absence into the start of the second half proved costly as Cardiff retook the lead four minutes after the restart as Munster went to sleep defensively, wing Tom Bowen scoring after Adams had made inroads to the 22 and Sheedy supplied the telling pass. Again the conversion was missed but the visitors had opened a 10-5 lead against a short-handed home side.

Coombes’ return in the 49th minute did provide a much-needed spark and it was the No.8 who delivered the try three minutes later from close range, Crowley’s conversion nudging Munster in front for the first time at 12-10 to the relief of the 12,033 Thomond Park crowd.

Back came Cardiff, a neat, short crossfield kick into the left corner from Sheedy finding Bowen for his second try of the night, only for the visitors to concede virtually from the restart. Munster earned a scrum from a Cardiff lineout inside their 22 and then a penalty at the set-piece from which Diarmuid Barron, who had replaced captain Niall Scannell as both hooker and captain at half-time, tapped and scored from five metres out to restore his team’s lead at 17-15.

It had been a breathless few minutes around the hour mark and when Munster earned another penalty inside the Cardiff 22, captain Barron elected for safety with Crowley extending the lead to 20-15 from the tee with 13 minutes remaining and then nailing his drop goal attempt on 75 minutes to secure victory and deny the Welsh club a losing bonus point.

MUNSTER: B O'Connor; S Daly (S O'Brien, 10 - HIA), D Kelly, A Nankivell, T Abrahams; J Crowley (T Butler, 77), E Coughlan (P Patterson, 54), J Loughman (J Wycherley, 57), N Scannell – captain (D Barron, 24-38 – blood & h-t), O Jager (R Foxe, 70); J Kleyn, F Wycherley (B Gleeson, 57); T Ahern, R Quinn (J O'Donoghue, 54), G Coombes.

Yellow card: G Coombes 39-49 CARDIFF: J Beetham; J Adams (S Emanuel, 76), H Millard, R Jennings, T Bowen; C Sheedy (I Lloyd, 65), J Mulder (A Davies, 67); D Southworth (R Barratt, 54), L Belcher – captain (D Hughes, 44), J Sebastian (S Wainwright, 65); J McNally, T Williams; A Mann (B Donnell, 58), D Thomas (T Basham, 58), A Lawrence Yellow card: J McNally 10-20 Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)