Late Champions Cup heartache for Munster as qualification hangs in balance

Munster slipped to a second Champions Cup defeat after going down 27-25 away to Toulon in pool two.

Jack Crowley put Munster in front with two penalty kicks, but they were reduced to 14 men in the 36th minute when Tadhg Beirne was sent to the sin bin.

Toulon responded just before the break as Marius Domon crossed before converting his own effort to give them a one-point advantage at half-time.

Toulon were straight out of the blocks in the second half when Ben White touched down in the 43rd minute and Domon converted, but Munster responded three minutes later when a quick switch towards the right allowed Calvin Nash to ground in the corner and Crowley added the extras.

A chaotic start to the half continued as Gael Drean scored for Toulon in the 49th minute with a try under the posts and Domon converted, while Munster were frustrated further six minutes later when Alex Nankivell was shown a yellow card.

Esteban Abadie was then sin-binned for Toulon, who still extended their lead further with a Domon penalty. Jack O’Donoghue touched down for Munster after edging over the line, but Crowley missed the resulting conversion attempt.

Charles Ollivon saw yellow for the French side, allowing the visitors to capitalise as Tom Farrell went over and Crowley’s conversion sent them ahead, but Domon’s penalty with five minutes to play wrapped up the win for Toulon.