Munster edge Connacht battle

Munster withstood a late onslaught from provincial rivals Connacht to claim a 16-12 Magners League victory at the Sportsground on Monday.

With Niall Ronan having been sent to the sin-bin, Munster's pack had to dig deep and see out a series of injury-time scrums, five metres from their line, before Connacht's brave bid was ended by a turnover in the loose.

A rather fortuitous try from Tom Gleeson and 11 points from the boot of stand-in skipper Ronan O'Gara saw Munster edge a tight contest that keeps them ahead of the chasing pack in the table.

In reply Ian Keatley kicked four penalties for the hosts in wet and windy conditions.

Connacht started the match very much on the front foot and an early aerial assault led to a first successful penalty from Keatley who was standing in at out-half for an ill Miah Nikora.

Ezra Taylor was penalised for bringing down a maul down allowing O'Gara to kick Munster level four minutes later, but it was Connacht who continued to force the issue.

Keatley restored his side's lead, via the left-hand upright, after Rob Sweeney had forced an infringement from Peter Borlase in a scrum, but Munster's try-line was not threatened as they kept Connacht at arm's length.

Error-strewn

O'Gara was off target with his second penalty attempt, and Keatley also flicked a right-sided penalty effort wide of the posts as an error-strewn opening period petered out.

Keatley immediately extended Connacht's advantage to 9-3 after the restart, punishing Borlase for a ruck offence.

Michael Swift was the next player to be singled out by busy referee David Wilkinson, the experienced Connacht second-rower pinged near his 22, and O'Gara made no mistake with the resulting penalty.

A serious-looking elbow injury to Munster's Alan Quinlan added to the stop-start nature of the game, but Keatley's fourth successful penalty kept Connacht in charge.

However, their grip on the game slipped as a comedy of errors led to Munster's all-important try on 65 minutes.

Barry Murphy dropped a pass near the Connacht 22 but a favourable bounce saw him hack on twice before the supporting Gleeson reached to just touch the ball down with his right hand before the ball ran dead.

O'Gara then took centre stage with a brilliant touchline conversion and then added a well-judged drop goal which appeared to deflate Connacht.

But they regrouped to produce a big finish with their cause aided when Ronan was sin-binned for killing the ball, but while a five-metre scrum offered the hosts one last chance, Munster managed to hold on for a hard-fought triumph.