Munster miracle men shock Wasps in thrillingly chaotic Heineken Champions Cup clash
Wasps were overrun 35-14 by Munster in a thrillingly chaotic Heineken Champions Cup clash contested by makeshift teams besieged by Covid and injury problems.
A rollercoaster first-half ended with Wasps trailing just 13-7 but the writing was already on the wall after Brad Shields had been controversially sent-off for a dangerous tackle on Dave Kilcoyne.
And with hooker Dan Frost sin-binned on the stroke of half-time, their 13 men were on the ropes and Munster reacted by engineering tries for Patrick Campbell and Andrew Conway.
Alfie Barbeary’s all-action display capped by a captivating try had given Wasps hope but he was unexpectedly replaced at half-time and it became one-way traffic from the moment Campbell showed his class to finish in the 43rd minute.
Missing 17 players to injury, they also had to contend with the loss of four more to Covid in the morning, resulting in a hasty reconfiguration of the team.
Munster, meanwhile, were missing 34 squad personnel because of quarantine following their recent ill-fated United Rugby Championship trip to South Africa, creating five debutants in the starting XV and another seven on the bench.
Crucially, however, Ireland stars such as Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Keith Earls were present to stiffen their ranks.
For all the absentees, it was an enjoyable spectacle where it appeared at times anything could happen, at least until Munster showed the extraordinary depth of their playing resources to pull clear.
Wasps’ Covid-affected start to the day was compounded when play got under way, with Thomas Young denied a certain try by O’Mahony’s excellent covering tackle.
And while Joey Carbery sent a penalty between the uprights to draw first blood for Munster, Jimmy Gopperth struck the crossbar to continue the two-time champions’ unfortunate opening.
But their scrum was offering a foothold in the game and it took feverish defence to keep their maul at bay until they produced the first of two turnovers in quick succession.
Munster were fighting for every ball in defiance of their absentees and their victory prospects received a dramatic boost when Shields was shown his dubious red card, with referee Romain Poite saying his shoulder had caught Kilcoyne’s neck.
Carbery directed a simple penalty at the post and while he was on target soon after, a dramatic twist followed as Wasps plundered a stunning try through Barbeary.
It concluded an exhilarating spell of end-to-end rugby in which the rivals took it in turns to attack from deep and, having been at the heart of the home advances, Barbeary delivered the telling blow.
A kind bounce of Murray’s kick presented Earls with the simplest of tries as Munster hit back and then Frost departed for the sin-bin as the home side were reduced to 13.
It did not take long for the advantage in personnel to be felt as Beirne started a breakout try that ended with full-back Campbell producing a brilliant finish on his senior debut.
And Munster were out of sight in the 49th minute when a loose pass during a promising counter-attack fell for Conway to scoop up and complete a simple run-in.
Hooker Scott Buckley was the next over from a line-out move and that was the game won, although Michael Le Bourgeois picked a quality line to improve Wasps’ final score.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments