Sport

Munster slow off the mark in drab affair

Munster - 5 London Irish - 12: The meeting of Munster and London Irish failed to live up to expectations at Thomond Park yesterday…

Wed Aug 18 2004 - 01:00

Munster - 5 London Irish - 12: The meeting of Munster and London Irish failed to live up to expectations at Thomond Park yesterday evening. The 5,000-plus home supporters were most disappointed at their team's display and they had to wait 65 minutes for Munster to register their only score.

Much interest was centred on the new players in the side, Mike and James Storey and Paul Burke. Of the three, Burke showed excellent form but the others will need some time to settle into the Munster pattern of play.

In the opening quarter London Irish had the better of the exchanges but both defences were on top on all occasions.

After 30 minutes London Irish opened the scoring with a try from Irish international wing Kieron Dawson following a well-placed diagonal kick by Mark Mapletoft.

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Before the interval Munster ran a penalty but with a try-scoring opportunity beckoning, Anthony Horgan knocked on near the line.

Munster introduced six replacements at the interval and five later in the second half; but try as they might they were unable to break through a solid London Irish defence.

Munster finally scored their first points when Christian Cullen broke out of defence before he was tackled, Martin McPhail kicked on the loose ball and replacement Brian Tuohy gained the vital touch down.

With five minutes of the game remaining Munster lost a lineout inside their 22 and Pierre Durant crashed over for an unconverted try.

Late in the game London Irish's Nils Mordt sustained what appeared to be a serious neck injury and the game was held up for 10 minutes while he received medical attention on the pitch.

MUNSTER: C Cullen; M Lawler, M Mullins, J Holland, A Horgan; P Burke, E Reddan; G McIlwhan, J Flannery, M Storey, T Hogan, T Hayes, S Keogh, D Leamy, J Williams(capt). Replacements: J Storey, R Henderson, M Prendergast, F Murphy, B Tuohy, B Murphy, M McPhail, D Ryan, J O'Connor, E McGovern, J Blaney. (all played)

LONDON IRISH: M Horak; J Bishop, G Appleford, N Mordt, P Sackey; M Mapletoft, P Hodgeson; N Hatley, A Flavin, R Hardwick, B Casey, N Kennedy, P Poulos, K Dawson, K Roche. Replacements: T Ojo , S Sganiforth, R Laidlaw, K Barrett, D Paice, P Durant, R Thorpe, M Haslett, P Murphy. (all played)

Referee: Alan Lewis (IRFU).