Munster 16 Cardiff 13:FELIX JONES marked his return to the Munster first team by running in a wonderfully worked first-half try as Munster held off a fast-finishing Cardiff Blues side at Thomond Park last night.
It was a welcome result for Munster in a week in which their head coach Tony McGahan’s departure for the Wallaby was confirmed.
Ireland fullback Jones has been out of action since injuring his foot against France in the build-up to the World Cup last August.
Dan Parks’s fifth-minute penalty opened the scoring for the visitors, but Ian Keatley’s penalty in the ninth minute tied the game.
Munster had the psychological advantage when a BJ Botha-inspired scrum won them a pressure-lifting penalty, and they struck for their first try in the very next phase.
Simon Zebo took Mick O’Driscoll’s pass at speed following a successful lineout and after the winger cut through the Cardiff defence with devastating speed, he spun the ball infield for Jones to finish a stunning move on his first start for Munster since last year’s league final.
Keatley converted and tagged on two more successful penalties, the second of which was just a few metres inside the Blues’ half.
Munster’s forwards had a stranglehold on proceedings, gobbling up the restarts and carrying strongly into contact.
Michael Paterson led the Blues’ response, breaking over halfway and linking with the busy Richie Rees. The move was swept out to the left corner where only a crucial turnover from Zebo kept the Welshmen out.
Zebo was back on the attack approaching half-time, launching a kick and chase which almost created a second try. The Cardiff scrum crumpled again late on, however Keatley slid the resulting penalty wide in the final minute of the half.
It has been a topsy-turvy week for the defending champions and it continued in the second half.The home side were rocked back on their heels eight minutes after the break when Richard Mustoe crossed for a try in the corner after the Cardiff backline opened up the hosts for the first time.
Outhalf Parks converted from a difficult angle to leave just six points between the sides and a game that Munster had been controlling with some ease suddenly became a much more difficult assignment.
But on a perfect night for goalkicking, Parks fluffed his lines and pulled a 54th-minute penalty wide on the near side when three points would have put massive pressure on Munster.
Keatley missed a penalty on the hour as Munster nerves jittered and they were jangling five minutes later when Cardiff’s replacement outhalf Ben Blair converted a penalty.
Cardiff lost captain Paul Tito to the sin bin and while that led to a period of sustained pressure close to the visitors’ line, the home side struggled to penetrate.
But they held on for a win despite Cardiff mounting a five-minute push for a winning score at the end at the end of the game.
MUNSTER: F Jones; J Murphy, D Barnes, L Mafi, S Zebo; I Keatley, T O’Leary; M Horan, D Varley, BJ Botha, B Holland, M O’Driscoll, Dave O’Callaghan, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan. Replacements: W du Preez for Horan (58 mins), S Archer for Botha (60 mins), D Williams for O’Leary (66 mins), L O’Dea for Murphy (74 mins).
CARDIFF BLUES: C Czekaj; R Mustoe, G Evans, G Henson, T James; D Parks, R Rees; J Yapp, R Tyrell, S Andrews, C Hill, P Tito, M Paterson, M Williams, M Molitika. Replacements: R Thomas for Tyrell (56 mins), B Blair for Parks (59 mins), C Sweeney for Czekaj (60 mins), M Cook for Hill (61 mins).
Referee: L Hodges (Wales).
