Stade Toulouse 20 Munster 16
Munster came up short in Toulouse but after surviving an ominous first quarter they dug deep in time-honoured fashion and went toe to toe with the five times champions on a bitterly cold day at a packed Stade Ernest Wallon.
Toulouse started in imposing fashion, bossing the collisions through their array of big men such as Emmanuel Meafoiuy and Richie Arnold, while the excellent Julien Marchand augmented his carrying by winning three turnovers as Munster struggled to find a footing in the game.
Munster’s lineout struggled although their scrum was strong when at full strength, ie in John Ryan’s last European tie for the province. They all rose to the occasion. All the pack put in big shifts, with the pack five all comfortably in double figures for tackles made and Jean Kleyn leading the way with 17.
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Gavin Coombes and Tadhg Beirne each augmented 15 tackles apiece with 15 and 11 carries, and Peter O’Mahony another big game albeit - playing on the edge as he does - it was blighted by a couple of unnecessary penalties.
Indeed the 13-11 penalty count and a late yellow card for Ben Healy hurt Munster hard, as did two missed conversions by Joey Carbery, although some of their inventive attacking play was a delight, and they outscored Toulouse by two tries to one thanks to an absolute belter.
The victory meant Toulouse finished second in Pool B and will host the Stormers in the last 16, while Munster are resigned to an away tie against Saracens, Exeter or the Sharks.
Munster went into the game in sixth place in Pool B and to climb any higher, and secure a top four place and a home last 16 tie, they needed to win with a bonus point.
For their part, Toulouse knew they needed a win to finish in the top two and a bonus point win by 11 points or more to top the group and secure home advantage potentially all the way through to the final potentially.
Not that Rowntree and his coaches were going to encumber their players with this information, for this was a marquee Champions Cup match away to the five-time winners in its own right.
The game began with the local temperature at zero degrees, and from Romain Ntamack’s kick-off, Melvyn Jamient’s good take put Toulouse on to the front foot. Peter O’Mahony came in from the side for Jaminet to open the scoring.
Munster needed to start well, but Niall Scannell’s first throw was a tad too high for Jean Kleyn at the tail and Anthony Jelonch won a penalty in the jackal to earn them an attacking lineout. A strong maul and big carries by Jack Wiilis, Julien Marchand and Cyril Baille brought Toulouse deep into the Munster 22, and Dupont also had a dangerous dart before Pita Ahki’s superb long pass gave the Argentinian winger Juan Cruz Mallía the chance to plough through Shane Daly and score by the corner flag.
Huge shots by Richie Arnold and Emmanuel Meafou on Joey Carbery and Mike Haley emphasised Toulouse’s dominance of the gain line and a poor pass by Craig Casey off their second lineout in the Toulouse 22 ultimately led to another Jaminet penalty when Niall Scannell was offside in midfield.
After Mike Haley tripped and was replaced by Malakai Rekitoa, with Jack Crowley shifting seamlessly to fullback like the classy player he is, Munster’s third lineout in the opposition 22 also malfunctioned. But off an ensuing scrum Antoine Frisch carried strongly and a sequence of close-in charges off a tap penalty culminated in John Hodnett plunging over with a little help as ever from Jean Kleyn.
Carbery missed the kickable conversion but after a Munster scrum penalty no less on the Toulouse put-in, he helped put some nice shape on Munster’s attack before putting Niall Scannell through a gap with a delayed short flat pass and nailed the ensuing penalty when Ahki didn’t roll away.
After Toulouse turned down three points, another multiphase attack into first-half overtime was also withheld when Gavin Coombes hauled down the charging Meafou and Ryan latched on for dear life to win the relieving penalty. Munster trotted off having survived an early storm and with a renewed pep in their step.
Within 10 minutes of the second-half they also struck with one of the great Munster tries in Europe. Casey worked the blindside and a deft passage of offloads by on halfway by Fekitoa, Coombes and Daly released Casey, who stepped Mallia before offloading to Daly.
Cue a Kleyn carry before Carbery used a penalty advantage to cross kick to Hodnett, and he linked with Calvin Nash who beat Ahki before offloading for Tadhg Beirne to power through Marchand.
The only pity was that Carbery again missed the kickable conversion, and was promptly replaced by Ben Healy, who cancelled out another Jaminet to restore the lead only for crossing after another messy lineout, conceded by Daly misreading Ntamack’s touchfinder led to another cheap three points and the lead again.
Healy was then binned for leading with his forearm into the neck of Pierre-Louis Barassi, which effectively meant Munster finished the game with 14 men. What’s more, as feared, the front-row changes weakened Munster’s scrum for the first time and enabled Jaminet to make it 20-16.
A good defensive read by Fekitoa, who had a strong if delayed Champions Cup debut, led to one breakout but Munster were penned in their own territory until the end, although they did defend their line fiercely until the end.
This was a proper Champions Cup tie.
Scoring sequence: 3 mins Jaminet pen 3-0; 8 mins Mallia try 8-0;17 mins Jaminet pen 11-0; 31 mins Hodnett try 11-5; 36 mins Carbery pen 11-8; (half-time 11-8); 50 mins Beirne try 11-13; 57 mins Jaminet pen 14-13; 60 mins Healy pen 14-16; 67 mins Jaminet pen 17-16; 74 mins Jaminet pen 20-16.
Stade Toulousain: Melvyn Jaminet; Juan Cruz Mallía, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Pita Ahki, Dimitri Delibes; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont (capt); Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Dorian Aldegheri, Richie Arnold, Emmanuel Meafou, Anthony Jelonch, Jack Willis, Alexandre Roumat.
Replacements: Rodrigue Neti for Baille (51 mins), Thibaud Flament for Roumat (53 mins), Francois Cros for Meafou (61 mins), David Ainu’u for Aldegheri (63 mins), Ange Capuozzo for Ahki (68 mins), Joshua Brennan for Arnold (70 mins), Guillaume Cramont for Machand (76 mins).
Not used: Arthur Retiere.
Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Jack Crowley, Shane Daly; Joey Carbery, Craig Casey; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Malakai Fekitoa for Haley (27 mins), Ben Healy for Carbery (51 mins), Diarmuid Barron for N Scannell, Roman Salanoa for Ryan (both 59 mins), Josh Wycherley for Kilcoyne, Conor Murray for Casey (both 61 mins), Alex Kendellen for Hodnett (65 mins),
Not used: Jack O’Sullivan.
Sinbinned: Healy (69-79 mins).
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
