Unlucky 13 suffer last gasp heartbreak at Musgrave Park

by Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

Following brutal back-to-back games against Clermont, it was back to Rabo Direct duties for the Scarlets for the start of the festive season as they travelled to Musgrave Park to face top of the table Munster before two derby games against arch rivals the Ospreys. With a significant amount of rugby publicity this week focusing on the future of the game in Wales along with possible discrepancies regarding the building of Parc y Scarlets, it was a welcome change to actually focus on events on the pitch.

There was an unfamiliar feel about the Scarlets – the blue away kit and nine changes from the team that played last week. However, a familiar face in the middle in the guise of referee Nigel Owens got the game underway in conditions that had improved from earlier on in the day.

It was Munster that were offered the first scoring opportunity, however young Outside Half Hanrahan was way off target with his attempt. The home side very much dominated the opening stages, keeping possession and demonstrating that they weren’t afraid to venture into open play.

Scarlets’ Aled Thomas opened the scoring for the visitors, taking full advantage of the increasing wind with a well struck penalty to give his team a 3 points to 0 lead.

However, Munster continued to keep possession, easily crossing the gain line with a series of well-timed passes, but the Scarlets demonstrated their defensive skills and were able to clear their lines.

JJ Hanrahan equalised the score soon after to 3 all following a lengthy advantage from referee Owens before he awarded the penalty.

With ball in hand, the Scarlets looked dangerous, showing their pace, however, a considerable amount of the game was spent being played around the half way line with the gain line hardly threatened.

Aled Thomas was offered the opportunity of regaining the lead for the Scarlets on the half hour, but despite having the distance, his kick lacked accuracy.

As the first half came to a close the Munster threat once again entered into the Scarlets 22, however the defensive Scarlets machine continued to hold firm with Adam Warren running the ball from danger, though unfortunately he lacked any supporting players and a rather uneventful half ended 3 points all.

The second half couldn’t have started any better for the Scarlets, great hands from Kristian Phillips and Aled Thomas opened up gaping holes in the home team’s defence and saw Scottish International John Barclay cross under the posts. Thomas slotted over the easy conversion to open up a 10 point to 3 lead for the visitors.

Munster’s attempt to combat a try with a try of their own didn’t quite go to plan, however, they did manage to narrow the Scarlets’ lead to just 4 points with Hanrahan kicking his second penalty to bring the score line to 6 points to 10. He added another to bring his and his team’s point tally up to 9 points to the Scarlets’ 10 so that just a single point separated the teams as the game entered the final quarter.

With the home team on the attack, it was the defensive Scarlets that was put to the test once more. Complete silence descended on Musgrave Park as Hanrahan was offered the opportunity to gain the lead for his team; however, his attempt hit the post, much to the relief of the Scarlets.

Unfortunately, a controversial decision from Nigel Owens, who bizarrely yellow carded Prop Rob Evans for an offense in the line out that was totally unintentional meant that the Scarlets were left to end the game with just 14 men.

Minutes later things got worse as replacement Mike Poole was also sin binned, this time for a dangerous tackle, leaving the Scarlets with just 13 men to defend that precious one point advantage for the remaining 140 seconds of play.

Desperate defence from the visitors saw them reach the 80 minutes defending their 22, knowing that their discipline had to be effective but accurate to avoid the heart break of losing the game deep in injury time. However, hearts were broken as the cross field kick saw replacement Ronan O’Mahony cross the white wash, despite appearing to be offside.

Drama ensued though, as Nigel Owens decided to use the TMO to question a possible knock on at the ruck, and also whether O’Mahony was onside. Despite the blatant knock on showing up on the screen, the IRISH TMO was amazingly unable to conclusively any reason not to award the try. The conversion from Hanrahan to give Munster a 16 points to 10 victory was certainly not deserved and once again anyone involved with the Scarlets can feel aggrieved by decisions from officials.

A diplomatic Simon Easterby could hardly hide his disappointment and indeed anger at the end of the match, however refrained from any negative comment, only stating that he was proud of the effort put in by the team who did manage a losing bonus point in yet another game they should have won.

A long journey home awaits the deflated players who must pick themselves up for the game of the season – the Boxing Day derby match against the Ospreys at Parc y Scarlets on Thursday, kick off, 2pm, and not the advertised 2.05pm.