Munster Rugby score hard fought pre-season win over Connacht in Galway

MUNSTER Rugby recorded their first win of pre-season when edging past interprovincial rivals Connacht 24-19 in a hard fought pre-season fixture played at the Sportsground in Galway on Friday night.

The interprovincial rivals shared six tries in a highly competitive outing when URC champions Munster returning to winning ways following their heavy defeat to Leinster in their opening pre-season fixture in Cork earlier in the month.

Munster play their third pre-season fixture next weekend when they return to Thomond Park for the first time in over six months next Saturday, September 30, with the visit of the Barbarians in a double-header with the Women’s team

Three Munster Rugby Academy players were included in the senior squad for the game, scrum-half Ethan Coughlan and winger Shay McCarthy both started with prop Kieran Ryan introduced as a second half replacement.

Shannon RFC teenager Stephen Kiely, who represented Castletroy College at school's level, was also sprung from the bench in the second half after scoring a try in Munster's pre-season fixture with Leinster in Cork earlier in the month.

Diarmuid Barron, Joey Carbery, Antoine Frisch all made their first appearances of the new campaign with Niall Scannell and Tom Ahern seeing their first action off the bench.

There was a change to Munster's originally named match-day squad with the withdrawal of Stephen Archer. John Ryan started in his place with Keynan Knox added to the bench.

Munster made the early running in bright dry conditions in Galway, but some brave tryline defence from Connacht held them at bay and when the visitors did get over the line early on, they were judged to have been held up.

From one of their early excursions into the Munster '22, Connacht hit the front when the home side prized open the URC champions' defence. The ball was quickly moved right with full-back John Porch putting Diarmuid Kilgallen clear and the winger showed a terrific turn of pace to scorch clear and score.

Jack Carty added the extras for 7-0.

Back came Munster and with full-back Porch in the sin bin, Joey Carbery kicked a 15th minute penalty to reduce the gap between the sides to four points at 7-3

Munster then hit the front after half an hour when the ultra-prolific Gavin Coombes barged over the tryline from close range for Graham Rowntree's side. 

Carbery landed the conversion and the Munster lead was out to three points at 10-7.

Connacht did force Munster into a bout of defending their line before half-time, but Munster succeeded in repelling the best efforts of the home side as they maintained their three-point advantage until the change of ends. 

It didn't take Connacht long in the second half, however, to get back in front. A rampaging run from number eight Cian Prendergast created the opening as he powered his way deep inside the Munster '22. The ball was quickly recycled and replacement Paul Boyle dotted down.

Former Munster fan favourite JJ Hanahan, who was also introduced at the break, slotted the extras to help Connacht into a 14-10 advantage.

The see-saw nature of the scoring continued, however, with Munster struck for their second try of the contest in the 50th minute.

Following a concerted period of Munster pressure, Connacht lost tryscorer Boyle to the sin-bin and the visitors made the most of their numerical advantage.

Munster initially deployed the pick-and-go option in a bid to cross the whitewash, before opting to spin the ball out with scrum-half Ethan Coughlan and out-half Carbery combining to send hooker Diarmuid Barron over from close range.

Carbery's conversion helped Munster into a 17-14 advantage.

Munster added a third try in the 57th minute through Rory Scannell with Carbery adding the conversion to make it 24-14.

Connacht, who had rung the changes at half-time, hit back with their Shayne Bolton helped create the opening which led to Cathal Forde dotting down.

Hanrahan was off target with the conversion attempt as Munster remained five points to the good, 24-19, with a little over quarter of an hour to play.

Connacht pushed hard to turn the game on its head, forcing a number of penalties inside the Munster half. However, a combination of some unforced errors from the home side and some sturdy defence from Munster held them out.

SCORERS: Connacht: Diarmuid Kilgallen, Paul Boyle, Cathal Forde try each, Jack Carty con, JJ Hanrahan con. Munster Rugby: Gavin Coombes, Diarmuid Barron, Rory Scannell try each, Joey Carbery one pen, three cons.

CONNACHT: John Porch, Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tom Farrell, Tom Daly, Andrew Smith, Jack Carty (C), Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Jack Aungier; Niall Murray; Joe Joyce, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Conor Oliver, Cian Prendergast. Replacements: Dylan Tierney_Martin for Heffernan, Peter Dooley for Buckley, Dominic Robertson-McCoy for Aungier, Oisin Dowling for Murray, Paul Boyle for Oliver, Colm Reilly for Blade, JJ Hanrahan for Carty, Cathal Forde for Daly, Byron Ralston for Farrell, Shayne Bolton for Kilgallen (all half-time), Darragh Murray for Joyce, Liam McNamara for Porch (both 56 mins), John Porch for Smith (76 mins).

MUNSTER RUGBY: Simon Zebo; Shay McCarthy, Antoine Frisch, Rory Scannell, Calvin Nash; Joey Carbery, Ethan Coughlan; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Gavin Coombes, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (C), John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen. Replacements: Jack Daly for Hodnett (half-time), Stephen Kiely or Zebo (55 mins), Niall Scannell for Barron (59 mins), Keynan Knox for Ryan, Kieran Ryan for Josh Wycherley, Neil Cronin for Coughlan (all 64 mins), Tom Ahern for Fineen Wycherley (67 mins), Josh Costello for McCarthy (75 mins).

REFEREE: Andrew Cole (IRFU)