URC: Munster 23 Cardiff 20
Munster celebrated head coach Clayton McMillan’s first home competitive fixture in the URC with a victory. It mattered little in the immediate aftermath that the performance was scratchy; of far greater import that they found a way to win when they weren’t at their best.
They did produce flashes of excellence but in the end were reliant on Cardiff’s disciplinary foibles to get over the line, literally and metaphorically. The blustery conditions made it challenging but neither side will have been happy with their ball retention and accuracy.
Jack Crowley stepped up when the game was in the balance, Alex Nankevill and Dan Kelly had their moments, Ben O’Connor composed in his duties while Thaakir Abrahams was a handful for the visitors but it was the Munster pack that eventually prised open up the result, while the bench brought energy and momentum at a crucial time, especially Diarmuid Barron and Paddy Patterson.
The match began at a helter-skelter pace with the visitors i
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