Munster battle past Scarlets
Munster climbed to the top of Heineken Cup Pool One after securing a hard-fought 17-14 away win against the Scarlets.
By Alex Williams - Twitter: @skysportsalexw
Last Updated: 10/12/11 5:59pm
Munster climbed to the top of Heineken Cup Pool One after securing a hard-fought 17-14 away win against their nearest challengers the Scarlets.
Both sides went into the clash at Parc y Scarlets having won their first two matches but it was the visitors who emerged with their perfect record still intact, again thanks largely to the boot of Ronan O'Gara.
The veteran fly-half kicked four penalties, while Niall Ronan ran in a first-half try to round off the visitors' best attacking move of the match.
The Scarlets were eight points up inside the first 10 minutes after an Aaron Shingler try but let Munster back in and, despite dominating possession in the second half, could not prevent the match slipping away.
However, they can take some consolation from the fact that another bonus point means they are still only two points behind the pool leaders.
The hosts made an aggressive start, pinning Munster inside their own 22, but Rhys Priestland hooked a third-minute penalty wide to give the Irish side an early reprieve.
Try
They were ahead with just five minutes on the clock, however, when Munster fumbled the ball inside their own half and Liam Williams showed great awareness to kick ahead, with Shingler gathering and crossing the try-line.
Priestland was once again off-target with the conversion but finally opened his account with three points shortly after when the visitors were penalised for offside.
The Scarlets did have to weather some heavy pressure as the clock approached 15 minutes but were soon firmly back on the front foot, although a forward pass from Jonathan Davies prevented them from adding to their lead.
Munster managed to get on the board when O'Gara slotted over a penalty following an infringement at a scrum, and they would soon be back on level terms.
With the half-hour mark approaching, Dennis Hurley created a break with a superb back-handed offload before Johne Murphy played in flanker Ronan to finish off the move in the corner.
Munster had the lion's share of territory and possession for the rest of the half and took the lead at 11-8 just before the interval when O'Gara nailed a penalty from the same touchline from which he missed the conversion for Ronan's try.
Cutting edge
The Scarlets had most of the ball in the early stages of the second half but could not rediscover the cutting edge they had shown at the start of the contest.
They did manage to draw level with a Priestland penalty after Munster failed to roll away after a tackle, but Matthew Rees then deliberately slowed the ball at the other end to allow O'Gara to add three more to the visitors' tally.
Priestland missed another penalty shortly afterwards and the Scarlets were made to pay when O'Gara slotted over three points of his own after a dominant Munster scrum drew the infringement.
Stephen Jones came off the bench to take over the kicking duties from Priestland, and the veteran fly-half landed his third kick to reduce the deficit to three points heading into the final 10 minutes.
