Wins for Munster and Edinburgh
PRO14 FRIDAY WRAP: Hooker Rhys Marshall snaffled a brace of tries as a rampant Munster swept aside a much-changed Ospreys 49-13.
Joey Carbery and Tadhg Beirne made their Munster bows following their summer moves from Leinster and Scarlets respectively – and one of the largest roars of the night heard at Irish Independent Park greeted the former’s impressive debut try.
In Friday’s other match, Duhan van der Merwe and Pierre Schoeman scored in each half to earn Edinburgh their first Pro14 win of the season, 17-10 against Connacht in difficult conditions.
After two narrow losses, Edinburgh needed a win to get their season on track but as they did against Ulster a week ago, they faded in the final quarter as Connacht came back into the game.
Still, from 17-0 Edinburgh had enough of a lead and were able to grind out a victory in the damp conditions in the Scottish capital despite the Connacht recovery.
Munster 49-13 Ospreys
Early on, Mike Haley bamboozled the visitors’ defensive line as he collected his own chipped kick but Tadhg Beirne was unable to collect his offload and the hosts were denied an early breakthrough.
Munster would get themselves on the scoreboard with 16 minutes on the clock – working through the gears, the home side rolled forward with a driving maul to win a penalty try, Ospreys’ Giorgi Nemsadze penalised.
Sam Davies bisected the posts from the tee to get the visitors up and running five minutes later but Munster hit back in a flash.
Seizing upon a kick forward from Davies, Joey Carbery took flight and left a raft of opponents trailing in his wake as he announced himself to the Munster faithful in style, the flyhalf also converting his own score.
At the other end, Davies calmly slotted away his second penalty of the game but it didn’t take long for Munster to bag their third try of the evening, James Cronin reacting quickest to rumble over at the base of the posts after Chris Cloete had broken with intent, Carbery again adding the extras.
And before the break, Munster scored for a fourth time, a succession of penalties allowing Marshall to power over, Carbery converting.
Johann van Graan’s troops picked up where they left off after half-time, Marshall gobbling up his second try of the game from close-range as the Munster maul got rolling.
The red tide didn’t stop there – in a flash, Peter O’Mahony picking off a loose pass and after weaving run from Darren Sweetnam, Arno Botha stormed over the line for his first Munster try, Carbery converting both tries.
As both teams began to ring the changes, Ospreys were afforded an opportunity to regain their bearings, and just past the hour-mark, former Wales Sevens star Luke Morgan took advantage of a defensive slip-up from Munster, tearing away to dot down, Davies booting the extras.
But that only sparked the hosts back into life, Botha teeing up Sweetnam to slice through Ospreys, his arcing run and score converted by Ian Keatley to round things off for Munster.
The scorers:
For Munster:
Tries: Penalty Try, Carbery, Cronin, Marshall 2, Botha, Sweetnam
Cons: Carbery 5, Keatley
For Ospreys:
Try: Morgan
Con: Davies
Pens: Davies 2
Yellow cards: Giorgi Nemsadze (Ospreys, 17); Adam Beard (Ospreys, 40)
Teams:
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Dan Goggin, 11 Darren Sweetnam, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Peter O’Mahony (captain), 5 Darren O’Shea, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 James Cronin.
Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Tommy O’Donnell, 21 James Hart, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Jaco Taute.
Ospreys: 15 James Hook, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Joe Thomas, 12 Cory Allen, 11 Luke Morgan, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Sam Cross, 6 Olly Cracknell (captain), 5 Adam Beard, 4 Giorgi Nemsadze, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Rhodri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Nicky Smith, 17 Ifan Phillips, 18 Alex Jeffries, 19 James Ratti, 20 Guido Volpi, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler, 23 Hanno Dirksen.
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Sean Gallagher (Ireland), Paul Haycock (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Edinburgh 17-10 Connacht
Edinburgh enjoyed the early possession and were almost ahead early on when Matt Scott got away down the left after a break from Jaco van der Walt.
The South African flyhalf was a late inclusion in the starting line-up after Simon Hickey was forced to withdraw but he showed no ill-effects from the disrupted preparation.
Edinburgh finally made a breakthrough on 26 minutes and it all stemmed from a break by Blair Kinghorn. The fullback found Hamish Watson inside him and with Connacht scrambling, Jarrad Butler was penalised and sent to the sin-bin for knocking the ball out of Henry Pyrgos’ hands.
With the extra man, Edinburgh took advantage of the stretched defence with Pyrgos throwing a wide pass for a simple finish for Duhan van der Merwe.
Edinburgh were on top in the scrum as well, and when the Connacht set-piece faltered on the stroke of half-time, Van der Walt curled a penalty home to make it 10-0 at the break for the home side.
Conditions made running rugby difficult but Edinburgh continued to control field position and should have added to their lead early in the second half. Kinghorn was again heavily involved, running an arcing wide line and then seemingly putting in Van der Merwe for his second.
The South African winger juggled the ball though, and could not collect, as Connacht breathed a sigh of relief.
It was only temporary respite though, with Pierre Schoeman making a big impression on the loosehead. He was the man who emerged with the ball after a dominant maul, with Van der Walt converting to make it 17-0.
Connacht looked to be dead and buried but they finally got some field position shortly before the hour-mark.
They used it to great effect, with Jack Carty throwing a magnificent wide pass for Niyi Adeolokun to go over in the right-hand corner.
Carty converted from the touchline and when he added another three points from a penalty four minutes from time, it was a one-score game.
Just as it looked like they might let another lead slip, Edinburgh’s pack stepped up and earned a crucial scrum penalty to see out the victory.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Van der Merwe, Schoeman
Cons: Van der Walt 2
Pen: Van der Walt
For Connacht:
Try: Adeolokun
Con: Carty
Pen: Carty
Yellow card: Jarrad Butler (Connacht, 24)
Teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Luke Hamilton, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 WP Nel, 2 Stuart McInally (captain), 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Fraser McKenzie, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 Sean Kennedy, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Juan Pablo Socino.
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun,13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 Ultan Dillane, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Conan O’Donnell.
Replacements: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 Peter McCabe, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 James Cannon, 20 Colby Fainga’a, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Bundee Aki.
Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans, Ian Kenny (Scotland)
TMO: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
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