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Munster secured their first win of the United Rugby Championship season with a 26-22 victory over the Bulls. Twenty-year-old flyhalf Charlie O'Shea delivered a standout debut, kicking a penalty and guiding Munster to victory despite late injuries and squad disruption.
United Rugby Championship: Munster 26 Bulls 22 Finally, some real respite for Munster after another week of turmoil. Not just a win to get their season up and running, but the unearthing of a gem of an outhalf who produced a dream first start with 20-year-old Charlie O’Shea steering them home with the authority of a veteran.
It’s not that O’Shea has come from nowhere. The opposite; he has followed a well trodden path through Dolphin, Christians, UCC and the Irish Under-20s. Throw in some Gaelic football skills from the Erin’s Own club and it was easy to see why he is held in such regard. Yet throw a 20-year-old academy player into a senior team under pressure and who knew what might happen?
“Ah, it was just unbelievable,” said man of the match O’Shea. “I probably got lucky there with one of the tries but the fans were great. It’s the loudest crowd I have played in front of and they really gave us energy there to kick on and get the win.
“It’s class, just to get the opportunity to play. Craig mentioned we are the smallest halfback partnership in the world! I was so happy to get the nod and I was so happy it went well then,” he added.
Munster were forced into a late change when lock Fineen Wycherley cried off to be replaced by Evan O’Connell, meaning that Diarmuid Kilgallen, Seán O’Brien and Michael Milne were the only survivors from the side which lost the opening game to Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park. But Milne lasted just seven minutes, not recovering from a leg injury picked up in the opening foray and he had to be replaced by Jeremy Loughman.
But it was clear young outhalf O’Shea was quickly settling into his first competitive start with authority, a superb penalty touchfinder in the second minute providing the Cork native with an early boost. The Irish Under-20 outhalf also showed good hands in that early Munster onslaught but they could not find a way through and it was the Bulls who hit the front after 15 minutes in their first attack.
A couple of penalties to the left corner yielded an almost inevitable score, lock Ruan Vermaak getting over and Curwin Bosch adding a good conversion from the left. That subdued the relatively small attendance and a moment of magic was needed to lift Munster. O’Shea duly delivered in the next attack, spotting former Munster player Thaakir Abrahams had come in from his left wing, and his pinpoint crosskick was collected over the line by Kilgallen to score.
O’Shea then curled the conversion from the right touchline to tie the game at 7-7 and get the crowd on their feet. Munster’s injury woes continued when Kilgallen had to go off but his replacement Gordon Wood, a late addition to the squad when Wycherley was ruled out, came on and made a couple of big impacts.
O’Shea’s night got better and better nine minutes from the break when he blocked down a clearance from his opposite number Bosch and beat scrumhalf Zak Burger to the touchdown. A penny for his thoughts as he tried to compose himself before tapping over the conversion to make it 14-7.
The lead only lasted five minutes, with the Bulls scoring from a scrum on the 10m line on the right, running it through several pairs of hands, all of whom made ground, not least Abrahams, before tighthead Francois Klopper got over from close range. Bosch converted to make it 14-14 at the break.
Bosch edged the Bulls back in front with a 35m penalty before a dink from O’Shea bounced kindly for fullback Shane Daly, but he was nabbed by Sebastian de Klerk a few metres shy of the line. But O’Shea and Munster were not denied seven minutes later, O’Shea sneaking in at the right corner with a sublime finish from close range.
He narrowly missed the touchline conversion but his second try left Munster 19-17 in front going into the final quarter. A Bulls handling error presented Munster with an attacking scrum 11 minutes from time with Wood, Dan Kelly and skipper Craig Casey involved as Alex Kendellen powered over. O’Shea converted to make it 26-17 before making way for JJ Hanrahan to a standing ovation from the Thomond Park crowd.
The Bulls were given a lifeline when Jeandre Rudolph in the right corner cut the gap to four points with seven minutes remaining. Munster hit back with JJ Hanrahan executing a superb 50:22. With new prop signing Kieran Brookes in as replacement hooker, they lost the lineout but won back possession through Wood and Gavin Coombes and deservedly held on to the end to get their season up and running.
SCORING SEQUENCE — 15 mins: Vermaak try, Bosch con, 0-7; 19: Kilgallen try, O’Shea con, 7-7; 31: O’Shea try and con, 14-7; 36: F Klopper try, Bosch con, 14-14; Half-time: 14-14; 44: Bosch pen, 14-17; 55: O’Shea try, 19-17; 69: A Kendellen try, O’Shea con, 26-17; 73: J Rudolph try, 26-22. Full-time: 26-17 Munster: S Daly; D Kilgallen, S O’Brien, D Kelly, S McCarthy; C O’Shea, C Casey ; M Milne, M van der Merwe, J Aungier; T Ahern, E O’Connell; S Edogbo, J Hodnett, B Gleeson.
Replacements: J Loughman for Milne , G Wood for Kilgallen , G Coombes for Edogbo , A Kendellen for Hodnett , K Brookes for van der Merwe , R Foxe for Aungier , Edogbo for Gleeson , JJ Hanrahan for O’Shea . Scorers - Tries: C O’Shea , D Kilgallen, A Kendellen. Cons: C O’Shea .
Bulls: H Kunene; S de Klerk, S Gans, S Jacobs, T Abrahams; C Bosch, Z Burger; A Tshakweni, J Else, F Klopper; R Vermaak, R Ludwig; M Coetzee ; H Liebenberg, J Rudolph. Replacements: C Jooste for Jacobs , W le Roux for Abrahams , J Uys for Else, S Sithole for Tshakweni, K Mchunu for Klopper, JF van Heerden for Ludwig and P de Wet for Burger , N Carr for Coetzee .
Scorers - Tries: R Vermaak, F Klopper, J Rudolp. Cons: C Bosch . Pen: Bosch. Referee: Federico Vedovelli .
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