Munster took a step towards the Pro12 play-offs on Saturday with a 35-29 win over Glasgow Warriors at Musgrave Park.
Fly-half Ian Keatley's 20 points proved the difference between the sides as Munster battled to a narrow victory.
The Irish province led 18-6 at the break thanks to Luke O'Dea and Peter O'Mahony's touchdowns with the rest coming through Keatley.
Ruaridh Jackson hit back for the Warriors with two penalties. Glasgow kept themselves in the game through two Stuart Hogg tries and a pair of Duncan Weir three-pointers, but the home side pulled away through Conor Murray's score and the boot of their fly-half.
However, the visitors garnered a deserved bonus-point after Hogg claimed his hat-trick score.
In a battle between two play-off contenders, it was the Scottish team who got off to the perfect start when Jackson kicked a penalty.
But Munster levelled the scores through Keatley after 19 minutes and then took the lead when O'Dea crossed the whitewash.
Glasgow's fly-half kept them in touch with a second three-pointer before his opposite number converted one of his own.
However, disaster struck for the Warriors on the stroke of half-time as O'Mahony went over with Keatley converting. Munster led 18-6 at the break, but Hogg responded almost immediately for the visitors after half-time when he touched down.
The home side's stand-off extended their advantage to 10 points before the visiting centre displayed his immense potential with a second try.
Glasgow couldn't quite reel in the deficit and Keatley once again moved the visitors out of bonus-point territory as Munster led 24-16 after 55 minutes.
Weir came on for the struggling Jackson and he immediately made an impact by kicking a penalty. The respective fly-halves then traded three-pointers before Federico Aramburu was sin-binned for the Warriors, and Keatley added his sixth from the tee.
But it wasn't to be for the Warriors as Murray crossed the whitewash to keep themselves in contention for a home semi-final in the play-offs, despite Hogg picking up his third try with Weir converting.
The scorers:
For Munster:
Tries: O'Dea, O'Mahony, Murray
Cons: Keatley
Pens: Keatley 6
For Glasgow:
Tries: Hogg 3
Pens: Jackson 2, Weir 2
Yellow card: Aramburu (Glasgow - 70th min)
Munster: 15 Felix Jones, 14 Luke O'Dea, 13 Johne Murphy, 12 Lifeimi Mafi, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Peter O'Mahony, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Donnacha Ryan, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Mike Sherry, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Damien Varley, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 Billy Holland, 19 John Ryan, 20 Paddy Butler, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Scott Deasy, 23 Ivan Dineen.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Federico Aramburu, 13 Stuart Hogg, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Colin Shaw, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Al Kellock (c), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Mike Cusack, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Jon Welsh.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tom Ryder, 20 Calum Forrester, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Tommy Seymour.
Venue: Musgrave Park
Referee: Nigel Owens
Comments
damo says...
@ sebbb says...
Valid points all but in Ryan and O'Connell Ireland are still strong its O'Callaghans selection where I get confused as he doesn't seem to bring anything in 2012 where the intensity is massive.
&s team for Ireland is a must, Butler is a good call where is he at the moment as he was class under 20s and a real star of the future these players need playing time in pro 12 and 7s would be great!
Nagle needs to play and a lot more often as he wins motm in the Munster beating of Australia and then goes back to the benches
Posted 00:03 19th April 2012
island says...
The most interesting bit was when Nigel Owens had to telephone the TMO because his radio link was down!
Posted 15:40 16th April 2012
damo says...
Peter O'Mahony class act its time Ireland decide to play a back row player in the second row and utilise the talent we have, my suggestion is ferris at second row with POC, then we have O'Brien Peter O'Mahony and Heaslip in the back row, I think Heaslip and O'brien has been a marked man for far too long with defensive lines knowing O'callaghan will not get far if he takes up the ball, saying that Ryan is a god player and this strategy can be used with rotatin but against the top teams our only hope is going with the more dynamic selection
Alan Quinlan had a really good article in the Indo saying Ireland need a 7s team and he is 100% right I hope he follows his up as we see Cuthbert from Wales came throught the 7s circut, for Ireland we should have a 7s team including Carr (Leinster)/O'Halloran (Connaught)/Ryan(Leinster), Conway (Leinster), Marshall (Ulster), Nagle (Munster), Deasy and Holland (Munster) and a few more, all bar Marshall are not playing with any regularity and are potentially world class!!!
Conway/Nagle/O'Halloran in particular have to be future stars of the game and should be on the 7s stage to get used to it!!!!!!! no disrespect to the others who all have class also
Posted 11:07 15th April 2012