Last 16 in sight as Munster Rugby secure thrilling Champions Cup win over Saracens

MUNSTER recorded an incredibly gritty 17-12 victory over English Premiership side Saracens in the Investec Champions Cup in front of an attendance of 22,030 in Thomond Park on Saturday evening.

Tries from Dian Bleuler and John Hodnett with two conversions and a penalty from Jack Crowley secured victory in a game which was in the balance at half-time with Sarries' controlling much of the opening half.

The men in red look set to secure a spot in the last 16 stage of the Champions Cup with only an away fixture against Northampton Saints to come at Franklin's Gardens next Saturday, 3.15pm.

Munster had already recorded a first round victory against Stade Francais, with this win over Saracens their second in the group stages.

Straight off the kick-off Munster full-back Mike Haley knocked-on the ball after gathering the kick well. This early mistake was compounded with a Munster player going offside gifting the visiting side an easy penalty in front of the posts to give them a three point lead after two minutes, kicked over by Alex Lozowski.

Saracens were guilty of their own knock-on from a high kick which gave Munster their first taste of an attack with the English side infringing at the scrum. Gavin Coombes taped the penalty quickly resulting in a quick forward attack for the home side but a miscued pass from Conor Murray to captain Tadhg Beirne resulted in yet another knock-on. 

With scrappy play from both sides in the opening ten minutes Saracens were next to get their turn of their first scrum of the game. A penalty against Munster gave Saracens a platform to attack with a sniping kick through the defence being dealt with well by Calvin Nash, who kicked the ball out of play for a Saracens line-out. Munster found themselves on the receiving end of another infringing penalty at the breakdown with Saracens Lozowski adding another three points to his tally leaving it 6-0 after 10 minutes. 

Nerves were clearly evident in the first-half of this Champions Cup clash with both teams falling victim to knock-ons. A costly one by Shane Daly, who was under pressure from an on coming Ben Earl, gave the English team a good attacking platform inside Munster's half. Munster did extremely well to push the visiting side back as they shot out of the line with good chop tackles, which forced Saracens to kick the ball straight out gifting the home side a line-out on the half-way line after 16 minutes of play.

Two knock-on's from Jack Crowley and Shane Daly breathed life into the Saracens attack with the game being played at their tempo in the opening minutes of the contest. Munster's latest error gave the visiting team another attacking scrum that was flung from one side of the field to the other at pace, but a huge defensive effort from the Munster men got them out of jail once again. 

Munster were gifted their first real attacking platform with a Saracens infringement and were marched forward a further 15 meters forward to give Jack Crowley a better angle to kick to corner for their first real attack of the half.

Munster got the rub of the green on this occasion after another knock-on in the ruck by Rory Scannell, Saracens were caught engaging in the scrum early giving Munster's Crowley an opportunity at the posts. Crowley made no mistake with the kick to put Munster on the board 6-3 after 25 minutes. 

With fire in their bellies Jack Crowley looked like he was destined to score the first try of the game chipping the ball on to himself twice in the one play, but just one glance to his right let the ball slip out of his hands, resulting in a knock-on and a scrum for Saracens inside their own 20-metre line. 

Saracens were caught hinging the Munster scrum giving the men in red a shot at another attack in the corner. With Jack O'Donoghue taking a superb line-out Sarries' were caught infringing once more. With confidence Munster kicked to the corner again with Fineen Wycherley taking the ball in the line-out on this occasion. A Munster maul was easily dismantled by Maro Itoje, with the home side coming away from the Saracens half with no score yet again.

What looked like a 50/50 contest between Jack O'Donoghue and Liam Williams was viewed as O'Donoghue taking the player out in the air, which gifted Saracens another platform to attack. A threatening kick by the Saracens scrum-half Ivan van Zyl was dealt with well by Alex Kendellen to give Munster the scrum and the ticket out of jail on the stroke of half-time. Conor Murray made the sensible decision to kick the ball out to leave it 6-3 at half-time in Saracens favour. 

After opening the half with a bright attack with plenty of the Munster players getting a touch on the ball the men in red once again fell victim to simple errors with Fineen Wycherley penalised for not rolling away from a Saracens ruck. A long-range kick, just inside the Munster half was guided over by full-back Elliot Daly to push the Sarries' lead out to 9-3 after 45 minutes.

Throughout the game Saracens gave away easy penalties with their next one for infringing in the line-out. Rather than sending the ball to the corner, Munster opted to take the three points, but Crowley was unable to get the ball between the posts on this occasion, which seemed like an easy opportunity missed. 

Referee Pierre Brousset deemed Munster's next attack through Conor Murray to be offside gifting the English side a kick into the Munster corner. After dealing with the pressure initially, scrum-half Ivan van Zyl found a gap in the right hand side of Munster's defence. Slow ball for Saracens saw their attack be pushed further and further back with out-half Fergus Burke missing a drop goal opportunity. 

This fantastic defensive effort was rewarded with a penalty kicked to the corner by Crowley with John Hodnett moving the ball on quickly from the line-out onto Rory Scannell. With the forwards doing the heavy lifting from the rucks it was Gavin Coombes' charging run that made space for prop Dian Bleuler to dot the ball over the line for the first try of the game. Crowley stepped up to give Munster their first lead of the game making it 10-9 with his conversion on 60 minutes.

Munster were certainly settled into the game after their opening try with Crowley sending an incredible cross field kick across to Rory Scannell on the wing, who cleverly passed the ball back in to find John Hodnett, who danced around four Saracens defenders, while being knocked down, and getting back up to score an incredible try in the corner. Crowley made no mistake with is his conversion, which hit off the post and went over, giving the home side a 17-9 lead after 64 minutes.

A controversial penalty on the next play was given to Saracens in front of the Munster posts, with no TMO check in what looked like a shoulder to head contact from attacking Eroni Mawi on John Ryan. Never the less the penalty kick was taken by Alex Lozowski to close the gap to 17-12. 

Saracens were giving their final chance to score a try in the dying minutes of the contest with a scrum penalty and with go forward ball they made the critical mistake of passing the ball forward to winger Liam Williams giving the ball back to Munster for a scrum on 79 minutes.

With control of the ball Munster managed to knock it on with the clock in the red Saracens were given their final bite of the apple. A huge defensive effort saw Saracens fumble the ball, gifting Munster a huge Champions Cup win in front of their home crowd. 

SCORERS: MUNSTER TRIES: Dian Bleuler, John Hodnett CONVERSIONS: Jack Crowley two conversions PENALTIES: Jack Crowley

SARACENS: PENALTIES: Alex Lozowski three, Elliot Daly one penalty 

MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Rory Scannell, Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Conor Murray; Dian Bleuler, Niall Scannell, Oli Jager; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne (C); Jack O’Donoghue, Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes. REPLACEMENTS: Diarmuid Barron for N Scannell (51 minutes), Stephen Archer for O Jager (51 minutes), John Hodnett for A Kendellen (51 minutes), Tom Ahern J O'Donoghue (51 minutes), John Ryan for D Bleuler (65 minutes), Brian Gleeson for G Coombes (71 minutes), Billy Burns for S Daly (75 minutes)

SARACENS: Elliot Daly, Liam Williams, Alex Lozowski, Nick Tompkins, Lucio Cinti, Fergus Burke, Ivan van Zyl; Phil Brantingham,  Jamie George,  Marco Riccioni, Maro Itoje (C), Harry Wilson, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Ben Earl, Tom Willis REPLACEMENTS: Theo Dan J George (61 minutes), Eronie Mawi for M Riccioni (61 minutes), Alec Clarey for P Brantingham (61 minutes), Tobias Elliott for L Cinti (65 minutes), Olly Hartley for N Tompkins (71 minutes), Nathan Michelow for H Wilson (71 minutes)

REFEREE: Pierre Brousset (France)