Faced with the prospect of a sixth successive defeat in all competitions, Connacht overcame a New Year downpour when JJ Hanrahan’s accurate right boot saw them overcome injury-ravaged Munster in a 22-9 win at the Sportsground. The win breaks the duck of losses and boost the team ahead of next week’s Investec Champions Cup clash away to Lyons in France.
The unrelenting rain on the first day of the year made for a dogged BKT United Rugby Championship derby, with the visitors leading 6-3 at half-time after Tony Butler’s two penalties.
Connacht, who had Byron Ralston sin-binned just before the break, had the better of the second half despite Butler briefly giving Munster a 9-6 advantage.
Adding to his opening 16th-minute kick, a wind-aided Hanrahan fired over four more penalties before converting Jack Aungier’s clinching 77th-minute try.
Held try-less for the second game running, first-half injuries for Oli Jager and Jack O’Donoghue added to Munster’s mid-season woes.
Having missed out on an early try due to Gavin Coombes’ knee touching the end-line, the visitors suffered another setback when prop Jager was stretched off following a double tackle.
Connacht also lost the services of Cathal Forde, with Jack Carty slotting in at fly-half and Hanrahan, who opened the scoring from the Munster 22-metre line, moving to centre.
A Hanrahan fumble, coupled with a sliced Mack Hansen kick, gave Munster the platform to draw level through Butler in the 22nd minute.
A brilliant kick from Butler was followed up by a crooked throw from Scott Buckley - Munster’s lineout struggled at key stages - and Connacht absorbed some more pressure after a Carty kick was blocked by Tom Ahern.
Butler’s 31st-minute penalty did edge Munster in front for the first time, but O’Donoghue had to be replaced after his knee was damaged by Ralston’s entry at a breakdown.
The Connacht winger returned from his sin-binning, nine minutes into the second period, with Hanrahan having kicked the hosts level.
As the rain continued to lash down, Munster captain Tadhg Beirne increased his influence at the breakdown and Butler split the posts from just inside the opposition 22.
However, Hanrahan made it nine-all when punishing a John Hodnett offside, and with Munster’s John Ryan popping up at a scrum, Connacht moved back in front with 14 minutes remaining.
Hanrahan then landed his best strike of the night, from just inside the Munster half with nine minutes to go, before narrowly missing from halfway.
Skipper Caolin Blade and Hansen both had to go off, but Connacht sealed the result when prop Aungier, supported by Denis Buckley, drove over after the Munster lineout had misfired again.
“Mack injured his shoulder, receiving a cleanout at that breakdown,” said coach Pete Wilkins.
“The severity of that we will have to see. Mack is pretty sore to be honest but we will get the scans and see where he is at.”
Connacht finished the game with 14 men having opted for a 6:2 bench split, with centre Cathal Forde and scrum-half Caolin Blade also going off injured.
“Fordy went off with a shoulder injury, like an AC joint, not sure at this stage of the severity of it. Hopefully not too bad but it was enough for his immediate removal. Straight away your 6-2 bench split starts to look a little bit skinny in terms of that, but we trained for that, losing one of our backs with JJ (Hanrahan ) going to fullback and Jack (Carty ) going to ten.
“I think that was important in terms of the lads having some cohesion but also mentally in terms of riding out what could have been a major disruption.
“Caolin Blade failed a HIA which he went off with, with 15 minutes to go and then Mack injured his shoulder. To finish the game with 14 men and see it out in that fashion, I suppose that is the satisfaction,” he added.
Wilkins said that the injuries picked up by Hansen and Munster’s Jack O’Donoghue, the latter earning Connacht winger Byron Ralston a yellow card, cause angst for coaches.
“I was coming down for half-time and was standing in the technical area for the Byron one. I think where players are making contact with the lower limbs of players contesting the ball, I know that is something that the powers that be want to be particularly hard on this year.
“I have not had the replays of it but certainly the referees have had a good look at it and for it to be a yellow I don’t know where there is any follow-up on that or whether that is the decision made.
“I think the Mack one, the discussion is the player who hit him and damaged his shoulder, is he coming in legally or is he coming in from the side? These are split-second moments and the referees have to make a decision and the TMOs help them on that but I think if you are on the receiving end of either you are probably a little unhappy as a coach,” added Wilkins.
The Connacht coach said they did enough to dictate the match and bring their losing run to an end as they continued their recent dominance over their nearest neighbours.
“We deserved the result. I think you’re not going to win an interpro in these conditions without bags of character. I thought that was there, the fight, the relentlessness, that was really important for us,” he added.
“Also, there was some smarts in terms of the game management. There were some fantastic defensive sets, which we used to turn momentum and apply pressure back to Munster.
“There were all different bits of our game that stood up, the pressure around the set-piece, the lineout defence, I was really pleased.”
CONNACHT: M Hansen (off injured 75 ); B Ralston, C Forde (J Carty, 10 ), B Aki, S Bolton; JJ Hanrahan, C Blade – captain (M McDonald, 65 ); P Dooley (D Buckley, 53 ), D Heffernan (D Tierney-Martin, 64 ), F Bealham (J Aungier, 57 ); D Murray (N Murray, 53 ), J Joyce (O Dowling, 71 ); C Prendergast, S Hurley-Langton (C Oliver, 60 ), J Butler.
MUNSTER: S Zebo; C Nash, A Frisch, R Scannell, S Daly; T Butler (S O’Brien, 71 ), C Murray (P Patterson, 74 ); J Loughman (J Wycherley, 76 ), S Buckley, O Jager (J Ryan, 12 ); G Coombes. T Beirne - captain; T Ahern, J Hodnett (B Gleeson, 76 ), J O’Donoghue (A Kendellen, 40 ).
Replacements not used: C Moore, S McCarthy.
Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU ).
