Westerners lose their discipline in falling to a heavy PRO14 derby defeat

Munster 49

Connacht 12

Rob Murphy at the Aviva Stadium

FOR all the wrong reasons, this was another memorable occasion at the Aviva Stadium for Connacht on Sunday. Three yellow cards and two red cards in the first half made a mockery of proceedings in front of the empty seats. Munster had raced into an early 14-0 lead and forced (or more accurately tempted) Connacht into conceding six of the first seven penalties before the fixture descended into complete farce.

The blame for it will lie mainly with Connacht as they were the ones reduced to 13 men before half time, but Munster players and referee Frank Murphy played a part in this too. First the background, Connacht made 14 changes from the win over Ulster for the fixture as management persevered with a a plan to give as many of their senior squad a run out over the two weekends.

Munster only made five changes from the narrow defeat to Leinster, in part because they needed a win to book a place in this weekend’s PRO14 semi finals. The seven try to two drubbing was probably no major surprise as a result, but the circumstances in how it played out was jarring to say the least.

The game was played out in the backdrop of the new law interpretations with referees under pressure to punish sloppy play in the tackle area. This element combined with two sides that seemed determined to test the limits of what is allowed, made for a mess of the fixture as Frank Murphy awarded an extraordinary 35 penalties during the contest. A total of 20 to Connacht, 15 to Munster and the card count was two red and one yellow for the westerners, whereas Johann van Graan’s men had two yellows and could have had more.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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