Munster miss their chance on a miserable day for Irish rugby

TADHG BEIRNE DID his best to drag Munster into another URC final, his array of turnovers, lineouts steals, and handling skill keeping the province in the battle at times, but it wasn’t to be.

Glasgow will visit the Bulls in Pretoria next weekend after Munster’s 17-10 home defeat in their semi-final against the Warriors concluded a miserable day for Irish rugby that also saw Leinster beaten at Loftus Versfeld.

Like their provincial rivals, Munster can have no complaints about the result. They were second best against a ferocious, accurate, and organised Glasgow team. Franco Smith’s men had to deal with two yellow cards and still won.

It goes down as a big missed chance for Munster to repeat last season’s URC success. A win in this semi-final would have ensured a final at Thomond Park against the Bulls but having earned home advantage for the play-offs, Munster couldn’t make it count.

To their credit, a crowd of just over 20,000 fans made plenty of noise during this fierce contest but they were hushed by the end as Glasgow earned an impressive semi-final victory and a place in the decider for the first time since losing to Leinster in 2019.

Adding to the misery was the sight of popular centre Alex Nankivell being sent off with five minutes left, the only decision referee Andrea Piardi could make with a case of clear head contact.

Glasgow defended brilliantly in this game, limiting a dangerous Munster attack to just one memorable passage of incisive play. That resulted in Antoine Frisch’s second-half try but moments of fluidity with the ball were too few from Munster as their attacking breakdown struggled.

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That was the same story a week ago in their quarter-final win against the Ospreys. They needed a response to their lethargy at the ruck in that game but didn’t get it. Taking inspiration from the Welsh side, Glasgow had a bit of a field day with their defensive breakdown work.

Sione Tuipulotu was excellent for Glasgow.

When your out-half is chipping in with two breakdown turnovers, you know things are going well in that area. Tom Jordan was one of a few players who stuck their heads into dark places to earn important steals for the spirited, connected Glasgow defence.

Glasgow didn’t create much in attack themselves but they struck ruthlessly when they could. Their first try was a gift from Munster, Nankivell dropping a pass from Frisch in midfield when they got their wires crossed, allowing Glasgow’s Kyle Steyn to scoop up and sprint clear against the run of play.

That score highlighted one of the other problems for Munster – simple errors in handling and kicking. They were a common theme on a bad day for Graham Rowntree’s side.

The second Glasgow try was a thing of beauty as they countered from a long Jack Crowley restart, flanker Rory Darge doing a good job to fix the defence in midfield before hitting pacy centre Huw Jones to scorch outside Seán O’Brien and put impressive wing Sebastián Cancelliere away to finish past Mike Haley.

Munster had repelled Glasgow in the 10 minutes before that try. Rowntree’s men made a bad start to the second half, their indiscipline inviting Glasgow to pile the pressure on.

Already 7-3 ahead and with Matt Fagerson in the sin bin, the visitors turned down a chance to kick three points and went to touch instead. Munster infringed twice more and Glasgow kept going to their lineout until Beirne rose for a superb steal at the front. Peter O’Mahony hacked the ball clear and Beirne followed up with a brilliant breakdown poach.

A couple of minutes later, Glasgow did opt to kick at the posts but George Horne was wide with his effort. Munster could have been forgiven for thinking they had survived but Cancelliere finished that sweeping attack from the restart. Their Irish attack coach, Nigel Carolan, would have enjoyed that one.

Munster will have regrets about their inability to take advantage of the first Glasgow sin-binning period. They did kick three points directly after Richie Gray was shown yellow and followed that up by applying suffocating pressure on Glasgow as the likes of Beirne, Jack O’Donoghue, and Niall Scannell made turnovers in contact.

Alex Nankivell is red carded.

There was even a Munster scrum against the head but when they were within a few metres of the Glasgow tryline, Scannell was pinged for sealing off at the breakdown. The Glaswegians survived.

There was another chance when Fagerson was binned just before half time for a high tackle on Peter O’Mahony, who fully embraced the role of irritating Glasgow’s players. Munster went down the line looking to edge ahead for the half-time break but Jordan pounced for one of his turnovers under the Glasgow posts.

It’s likely to be a tough watch for Munster’s coaches as they see just how many decent positions their team got into without finding the finishing touches. Their beefy bench included RG Snyman, Gavin Coombes, and Oli Jager but even though they gave Munster a lift shortly after being sent on, Glasgow steadied themselves and finished strongly.

If they’re honest with themselves, Munster will see that this performance was a continuation of their form in recent weeks. They were hit-and-miss against Edinburgh in their final regular season game and the same was true of their quarter-final win over the Ospreys.

They were on a 10-game winning streak coming into this semi-final but in the end, Munster ran out of steam. Rowntree’s men have been dethroned and Irish rugby won’t have a representative in the URC final.

- This article was updated at 8.54pm to correct Munster’s winning streak ahead of the semi-final from nine games to 10 games.