Unbeaten Munster scrap to a second Irish derby win

Munster continued their 100 per cent record in the United Rugby Championship with a hard fought 17-15 victory over Connacht.

The home side opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour through Jack O’Donoghue’s first try of the night when he was set clear on the far wing and raced over to make it 5-0.

However, Connacht turned the game on its head within 12 minutes. Firstly, Josh Ioane offloaded to Byron Ralston who ran over untouched, before the same two players combined again to open up a five-point lead.

Munster re-established their advantage six minutes later though. Diarmuid Kilgallen made the most of Ioane’s misplaced pass and had the space of Thomond Park to run clear over the whitewash.

Connacht took the lead heading into the break with a try on the stroke of half-time. Paul Boyle got the ball down and TMO Matteo Liperini was brought into the discussion with referee Andrea Piardi before the pair confirmed it had crossed the line.

The winning moment came with 13 minutes to go. Ronan Foxe led the charge and fed it to captain O’Donoghue who powered over for his second of the night to seal the win.

Elsewhere, Dragons replacement Oli Burrows’ late try sealed his side a 19-19 draw against Ospreys as honours ended even in the United Rugby Championship’s Welsh derby.

Hooker Burrows went over from a rolling maul with three minutes to go and after Dragons fly-half Tinus de Beer missed his touchline conversion and a late penalty attempt, it ended all-square at Rodney Parade.

Dragons fought back after falling 12-0 down in the first half following brilliant tries from Harri Deaves and Phil Cokanasiga, the second converted by Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards.

A pick and go from Dragons’ David Richards set up Rhodri Williams for their first score, converted by De Beer, but Ospreys extended their lead to 19-7 after Huw Owen-Sutton’s superb break set up a converted touch down for Iestyn Hopkins.

Dragons cut the deficit through Brodie Coghlan’s try after their pack had powered to within striking distance and, trailing 19-12 in the closing stages, another bull-dozing forward move allowed Burrows to barge over to level the scores.

De Beer pulled his conversion attempt off target and after Ospreys’ Daniel Kasende was shown a yellow card for diving into a ruck, the South African’s penalty kick flew agonisingly wide.

CARDIFF FIGHT BACK TO BEAT EDINBURGH

Ioan Lloyd scored a late penalty as Cardiff came from behind to beat Edinburgh 20-19 in the United Rugby Championship at the Arms Park.

The game got off to a flying start and Lewis Wells crossed over to give Edinburgh a 5-0 lead in the third minute but Taine Basham put Johan Mulder over the line to help level things up two minutes later.

Edinburgh re-established a lead through Charlie Shiel’s great work from the ruck but once again the hosts bit back as Josh Adams got the beating of several defenders to make it 12-12 after just a quarter of an hour.

However, Edinburgh took the lead for a third time in the game when Ewan Ashman crossed the whitewash which gave them a seven-point advantage at the break.

Cardiff needed to respond after the interval and they did that just two minutes into the second half as Javan Sebastian cut the deficit to two points again with a try against his former club.

And Cardiff left it late to secure the victory as they were awarded a penalty on halfway and Lloyd decided to go for goal and slotted home to earn his side a fourth win of the URC campaign.