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Munster claim see-saw win over Connacht in 68pt thriller
By PA
Last season’s table toppers Munster had to come from behind four times before seeing off Connacht 35-33 at Thomond Park in the United Rugby Championship.
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Debutant half-backs Josh Ioane and Ben Murphy inspired a rejuvenated Connacht to lead 19-14 at half-time despite Santiago Cordero’s sin-binning.
Former Leinster scrum-half Murphy squeezed in his second try, replying to Munster scores from Alex Nankivell and Mike Haley, as the provincial rivals eventually shared 10 tries.
Connacht replacement David Hawkshaw and Cathal Forde cancelled out efforts from John Hodnett and Gavin Coombes but Tony Butler, Munster’s reserve fly-half, coolly converted Shane Daly’s 69th-minute try to decide the outcome.
Murphy cut inside Craig Casey off a 13th-minute scrum, connecting with Shayne Bolton out wide, and had Ioane up in support to score Connacht’s opener.
Seven minutes later, Murphy brilliantly collected Ioane’s instinctive offload to go in behind the posts and the New Zealander converted.
After Casey was caught high by Cordero for his yellow card, Nankivell broke out of Conor Oliver’s attempted tackle to cut the gap to five points.
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Munster newcomer Billy Burns also converted Haley’s 31st-minute effort, with the tricky full-back stretching out of a Bolton tackle to touch down.
Nonetheless, Ioane’s superb straight line and return pass allowed Murphy to complete his brace just before the break, with Forde adding the extras.
There were four more tries inside the opening 23 minutes of the second half. Hodnett burrowed over and then Hawkshaw zoomed in from a nicely-timed Dave Heffernan pass.
Casey’s tap-and-go set up Coombes to give the hosts a 28-26 lead, only for Forde to muscle over just past the hour mark.
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However, Connacht’s dreams of repeating their famous 2015 and 2021 wins in Limerick were dashed when Daly scored from a Haley pass and Butler’s right boot did the rest.
Lucky win for Munster. Half backs Ioane and Murphy were outstanding. Murphy's debut was incredible, basically a better version of Craig Casey. Caolin Blade who featured against SA in Durban did not match when he subbed Murphy late in the game. Tough solid defence by Connaught. Top match. Connaught will be gutted to lose out on that one.