5 months ago
13
ARTICLE AD BOX
Glasgow stunned champions Munster at Thomond Park to secure a place in the United Rugby Championship final for the first time since 2019.
A breakaway try from captain Kyle Steyn gave Warriors a 7-3 half-time lead.
Sebastian Cancelliere’s stunning try added to that advantage before Antoine Frisch’s score cut the lead back to four points.
Alex Nankivell saw red late on for Munster and George Horne’s late penalty sealed Glasgow’s victory.
Warriors will meet the Bulls in Pretoria in the URC final next weekend after the South African side’s semi-final victory over Leinster.
Munster had been on a 10-match winning run and started fast, dominating the first scrum and then forcing a penalty that Jack Crowley pulled wide of the posts.
Glasgow took advantage of a loose Munster line-out and Sione Tuipulotu battered through a tackle to threaten the line but was penalised for holding on and the home side escaped unscathed.
Warriors found themselves on the wrong side of referee Andrea Piardi, conceding six penalties in a little over 10 minutes, and Richie Gray was sent to the bin for persistent offences. Crowley knocked over a simple penalty to get the men in red on the board.
The champions were well on top but unable to make their superiority count and on 24 minutes they were hit with a sucker-punch. A mix-up in the Munster midfield saw the ball go to deck and Steyn was first to react to gather and sprint away to score under the posts.
Simon Zebo looked to hit back for the Irish side but was bundled into touch by Huw Jones as he bore down on the try-line.
Warriors would keep their four-point lead intact until the break, but not before losing Matt Fagerson to a yellow card for a high tackle on Peter O’Mahony.
The 14 men started the second half on the front foot and passed up two kickable penalties to go to the corner, only to be repelled on each occasion by the Munster defence. When Glasgow were given another penalty within range, Horne pulled his effort wide of the uprights.
Then came a moment of pure quality. Tom Jordan fielded a 22 restart deep in his own territory, ran it back and linked-up with Rory Darge. He found Jones who scorched earth through the Munster midfield and fed Cancelliere who evaded the cover defence to score. Horne made his adjustments and banged over a superb conversion to give Glasgow a 14-3 lead.
Darge was required on the other side of the ball when a brilliant turnover near his own line foiled Munster momentum that looked certain to lead to a try.
The home side did not have long to wait, however. Horne’s charged-down box-kick handed possession to Munster and after a few phases prop Jeremy Loughman burst free and eventually the ball was worked wide to Frisch to score.
Glasgow again did well to weather the storm and Munster finished the game with 14 men after Alex Nankivell’s reckless clearout made contact with Horne’s head. The scrum-half got up to nudge over the penalty to stretch his side’s lead to seven.
Munster could not conjure a late rescue act and it will be Glasgow who travel to South Africa for the final aiming for a first title in nine years.
English (US)